


Brighter Than a Book Could Ever Be

by Kaospiral



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: But Aqours Did, Everyone's a Year Older, F/F, New School, Post Uranohoshi Closure, Slow Burn, Will add more character tags as story progresses, some angst later on, μ's Never Existed AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-04-04 02:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14009973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaospiral/pseuds/Kaospiral
Summary: After the closure of Uranohoshi Girl's High School, and the subsequent disbanding of Aqours, Hanamaru finds herself at a new school. Ever the optimist, she eagerly looks forward to her second year at high school, and all the new things waiting to be discovered. What she didn't expect, was that a chance encounter with a certain redhead girl would make all everything else seem irrelevant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I have no idea how this story came into my mind, but it did, so here we are. Essentially, this is gong to be about Hanamaru and Maki's developing relationship as Hanamaru (and some other familar faces) start life at a new high school, where the μ's first years (now second years) also happen to attend. I'll try to update this roughly once a week on average, but some chapters may come quicker/slower than others, depending on how stressful my Uni life is at the time. Also, this story will be told from a 3rd person POV, with the POV character's name being at the top of every chapter, as I do plan to have multiple POV characters as the story goes on.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling. On with the story!

_ Hanamaru POV: _

A new year and a new school. For some, this may have seemed like a frightening prospect. Change isn’t something that everyone enjoys, and some will do whatever they can to avoid it. Fortunately for Hanamaru, she was not one of those people. New things excited her, and because of her relatively sheltered upbringing, there were a lot of things that she had yet to discover, especially on the technological front. It also helped that she was not going to be alone in this new chapter of her life, as the majority of her friends from the now shut down Uranohoshi Girls High School were joining her at Numazu High.

Despite her excitement, she didn’t initially plan on getting to school an entire hour early.

The reason for her early arrival stemmed from that lack of technical know how, and in anticipation of her first day at her new school, she accidently set her alarm 1 hour early. Afraid of getting too engrossed and being late, she decided against reading a book to pass the time, and headed off to get an early feel for Numazu High.

The first thing that she noticed was how much bigger it was compared to Uranohoshi. She had expected a difference in size, considering it could not only hold the students the school already had, but the new ones from Uranohoshi, but Hanamaru had to guess that the grounds were at least twice as big, if not more. She wondered how long it would take her to memorise where everything is, and suddenly found herself hesitant to enter without anybody to help her find her way. As if the universe had heard her inner worries, she heard a faint sound coming from somewhere in the school. Her curiosity immediately got the better of her logical side, and she began to make her way towards the source of the sound.

It didn’t take Hanmaru long to recognise the sound as a piano, as she had become quite familiar with the instrument during her time in the school idol group Aqours last year. However, the music she heard was much different to the kind she had grown used to performing. It sounded much more classical, like the kind of music her mother had played her to help her fall asleep when she was younger. She found herself entranced by the playing, and before she knew it, she was standing outside what she assumed to be the music room. 

Through the glass window on the door, she could clearly make out the grand piano in the center of the spacious room, but that was not what really drew in Hanamaru gaze. No, what she was looking at was far more beautiful than a simple instrument ever could be.

The girl who sat at the end of the piano had bright red hair that would cause her to stand out in any crowd, though it was much shorter than Riko’s, the other piano playing redhead Hanamaru knew. She struggled to make out many other distinctive features, so she quietly entered the room in hopes of being able to see more of this mysterious girl. Luckily for her, the girl in question was too engrossed in her playing to notice Hanamaru enter, her eyes never once leaving the sheet music in front of her. And what eyes she had! The vibrant purple iris’ continued to draw Hanamaru in further, her mind now focused solely on the redhead and the flowing music that she created. So focused was Hanamaru, that she failed to notice the chair stationed in front of her, and proceeded to loudly and embarrassingly crash into it. 

“Zura!” she cried, falling flat on her face, and losing all form of stealth. A squeal from the direction of the mystery girl prompted her to look up from her less than comfortable position, only to find the seat in front of the piano suddenly empty. The girl in question was now standing a good 2 feet away from the instrument, backed against the wall and looking at Hanamaru with wide and nervous eyes.

“Ummm… ehhh…” she stammered, understandably unsure of what to do in her current situation.

“Um, h–hello” Hanamaru stammered, waving at the girl in a poor attempt bring some normality to the encounter. At the very least, the girl seemed to realise that she was not in any danger from the brunette, and moved towards Hanamaru with her hand extended.

“Here, give me your hand” she said, looking away from Hanamaru with slightly reddened cheeks. They paled in comparison to Hanamaru however which had taken on a similar shade of red to the mystery girl’s hair as she was helped back onto her feet.

“Thank you zura”, she said, internally face-palming at her inability to control her verbal tic. She blamed her best friend Yoshiko for the entire ordeal so far, reasoning that the girl’s terrible luck had rubbed off on her during their sleepover two nights ago. Nonetheless, she tried to retain whatever dignity she had left and begun to apologize for intruding on the redhead’s piano session. 

“I so s–sorry about this, I just heard the sound of the piano from outside, and then I got curious, and kept wanting to get closer to you—I mean your music, and then I fell over and scared you, so I’m really,  _ really  _ sorry zura!” Hanamaru blurted out, failing almost as soon as she began on her quest for redemption. As she lowered her head in both shame and embarrassment, the girl in front of her let out a small chuckle, causing Hanamaru eyes to rise up to meet her.

“Hehe, don’t worry about it, I just wasn’t really expecting anybody to be at school this early,” she replied, sporting a smile that seemed to Hanamaru to be one of both amusement and relief.

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning to be here this early, but I set my alarm too early last night,” sighed Hanamaru, thankful that the girl at the very least is willing to converse with her. “My name’s Hanamaru Kunikida by the way, I’m new here”.

The redhead looked her over for a second, before asking “is this your first year of high school?”

“Second, zura,” Hanamaru responded, feeling somewhat disappointed that she had been mistaken for a first year due to her small stature. “I’m one of the students who moved over from Uranohoshi when it got shut down last year.”

“Oh, then I guess we may be classmates this year, my name’s…”

“MAKI–CHAN!” came an extremely energetic voice from behind Hanamaru, promoting the girl she now knew to be Maki to face-palm.

“Maki Nishikino was what I was going to say, but it looks like Rin beat me to it” she sighed, but retained her smile as she looked at the new arrival.

Turning around, Hanamaru noticed that there were actually two people behind her, a fit looking girl with short orange hair, and a more timid looking one next to her with a shade much more resembling her own.

“Rin, you probably shouldn’t be that loud so early in the morning,” said the brunette, meaning the orange haired one was responsible for Maki’s failed introduction.

“Come on Kayo-chin, it’s our first day as second years! Aren’t you excited, nya?” Rin replied, energy bursting from every word that escaped her mouth.

“Of course I am but…”

“Not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve like you do Rin,” Maki chipped in, before turning to Hanamaru and introducing her to the two new arrivals. “The bundle of energy over there is Rin Hoshizora, and the more composed one is Hanayo Koizumi.”

Hanamaru waved nervously at the two, giving them her name in return. Hanayo reminded her heavily of her childhood friend Ruby, with their shared reserved demeanor. Rin on the other hand, seemed much more akin to Aqours former leader Chika, though somehow she seemed even more energetic, if that was even possible. 

“It’s great to meet you Hanamaru-chan, nya!” exclaimed RIn, rushing forward to envelop Hanamaru in a powerful hug. Hanamaru didn’t actually pay much mind to her personal space being invaded so suddenly. Her thoughts were more focused on how the orange haired girl in front of her seemed to have a verbal tic. Just like her. She immediately returned the hug, thinking that she could very easily be good friends with Rin. After the hug was finished, Hanayo came over to her and settled for a much more normal handshake, smiling at Hanamaru with such genuineness that she couldn’t help but smile back.

With introductions completed, Maki walked over to join the trio and turned to speak to Hanamaru. “Do you want us to show you around the school? We still have quite a bit of time until school starts.”

“Good idea Maki-chan. It is a big school, and really easy to get lost in,” Hanayo replied.

“Yeah, I got lost 12 times in the first week alone!” Rin chimed in, looking surprisingly proud of the fact.

“Don’t look so impressed with yourself Rin. Remember that Hanayo and I had to find you every one of those times, and were subsequently late for class ourselves,” Maki told Rin in a tone not unlike a mother scolding her child.

“I apologised and thanked you guys after every time, didn’t I?” asked Rin, her smile never once wavering.

“Don’t worry Rin, we didn’t really mind doing it for you” Hanayo reassured, petting Rin on the head and eliciting a soft “nya” from her. 

“Putting the past aside, would you like us to show you around?” Maki asked Hanamaru again.

“Yes!” Hanamaru replied, much quicker than she meant to. “I mean, only if you guys really want to, zura.”

“Of course we would!” said Rin. “Come on guys, let's show our new friend how awesome Numazu High is, nya!”

As the trio of returning second years turned to make their way out of the music room, Hanamaru thought about how she had already made three new friends before school had even started. With her gaze still focused on Maki, she began to follow the girls, wondering what other amazing things are going to happen to her this year.

 


	2. Chapter 2

_ Maki POV: _

Maki loved the peace and quiet the music room provided her before school. While she was certainly much better at interacting with others than she was last year thanks to Rin and Hanayo, she still enjoyed being alone every now and then, and her morning piano sessions gave her that at the start of every day. So, she was quite surprised to find that she didn't mind having that interrupted in favour of the impromptu tour guide of the school she now found herself apart of. 

“The science block is down that hallway over there”, Hanayo pointed out to the bright eyed brunette to Maki’s right, speaking with more confidence now that she felt more comfortable around Hanamaru.

“Wow, there are so many different areas here, it’s like the future zura!” exclaimed Hanamaru. “Uranohoshi barely had any extra classrooms for academic purposes beyond our home rooms.”

“We have the opposite problem,” sighed Rin. “I wish that we had less rooms, that way I wouldn't have gotten lost so many times last year”. 

“Rin, the fact that you were the only first year still getting lost by the second week leads me to believe that the school wasn’t the one at fault in for your terrible sense of direction.” said Maki, rolling her eyes as Rin scratched her head in embarrassment. Looking around, Maki noticed that the hallways were starting to fill up with students. Her watch showed that they only had about 10 minutes until classes started, and was about to suggest they head off to their respective homerooms until Hanamaru gasped and ran into a room just ahead of them.

“Hanamaru–chan, wait up!” Rin called out, running after her with Hanayo and Maki close behind.

Entering the room, Maki immediately recognised it as the school’s library. She didn’t go there too often, preferring the to talk with Rin and Hanayo in the music room during their breaks. At the moment though, what stood out to her the most was not the stacks of bookshelves or the beautiful view of the ocean from the windows off to the side, but the figure standing in the middle of it all. Hanamaru’s body was motionless, but her eyes radiated like the sun. Her mouth was agape, and her facial expression was one of pure wonder. Maki could tell just by looking at her that this girl was completely in love with the sight in front of her, and in that moment, Maki felt her heart inexplicably beat just a little bit faster.

“This is AMAZING!” Hanamaru exclaimed, breaking Maki out of her trance. “There are so many books here, I don’t think I could read even half of them if I spent the rest of my life here, zura!” 

“It’s pretty intimidating, isn’t it?” said Hanayo. “The library apparently got a huge overhaul about 5 years ago, and now it’s one of the largest high school libraries in all of Japan.”

“It gets super busy on the weekends when everyone’s trying to finish their homework, nya”, added Rin, who was most definitely saying that from personal experience.

Hanamaru continued to be dumbfounded, her mind clearly still not quite being able to comprehend the sight in front of her. Maki was about to ask her why she was so excited about something like a library, when a bell started ringing around them. Looking down at her watch, she inwardly cursed herself, wondering how those ten minutes had come and gone so quickly.

“Come on guys, we need to get moving now if we don’t want to be late for class on the first day back!” Maki exclaimed. 

“Roger that, Maki–chan!” Rin replied, giving her a soldier like salute. “It sucks that you’re not in our class this year, but we’ll come by at lunch to see you.” And with that, Rin ran out of the library, dragging a smiling Hanayo behind her as they made their way to their homeroom.

“What class are you in, Hanamaru” Maki asked as the two made their own way out. She said it in what she hoped was a casual and normal way, but inside, her heart found itself picking up it’s pace once again. Luckily for her, Hanamaru didn’t take long to respond.

“Room 2-4 is my homeroom, what about you?”

“Same as yours” Maki replied, letting out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. “Come on, follow me”. Making sure that she didn’t get too far ahead of Hanamaru, she led her new friend towards their classroom, nervously awaiting the beginning of her second year of high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter being much shorter than the first one. The point of this chapter was mostly to introduce Maki's POV, and show Hanamaru's love for books, so that's pretty much all that was covered. The next couple of chapters will probably also be on the shorter side, as I'm still in the set up phase of the story, but hopefuly by chapter 5 or so the story will pick up some pace and chapters can be longer.
> 
> Thanks once again for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

_Hanamaru POV:_

Upon finding that they somehow managed to make it into their classroom before their teacher arrived, Hanamaru breathed a sigh of relief. Being late to class on her first day would not have been a good first impression.

“Ah, it seems that my little demon has finally made her way out of hell,” came a deep voice from the other side of the room. Hanamaru didn't even need to see who it was before she responded.

“It’s good to see you too Yoshiko–chan.”

“It’s YOHANE” Yoshiko yelled, her voice moving up about an octave and losing all of its previous grandeur. “It’s a new year Zuramaru, surely you could give me a break and actually call me by my true name for once.”

“Not a chance, zura,” Hanamaru replied. “I met you when you were Yoshiko, so that’s who you are to me.” This prompted the self proclaimed fallen angel to pause for a second at the genuinely sweet comment, before Hanamaru added “besides, teasing you is just too fun not to do.”

“Zuramaru! Why must you be so mean to me!?” Yoshiko moaned, though Hanamaru knew she wasn’t really mad at her. This was their usual raport, so despite her love for change, she was glad that her friendship with Yoshiko remained the same. She suddenly remembered the redhead standing somewhat awkwardly behind her, and made haste in introducing her new friend to her old one.

“Maki–chan, this is Yoshiko–chan.”

“Yohane!”

“She believes herself to be a fallen angel, but don’t let that scare you, she’s completely harmless,” Hanamaru continued, ignoring the girl’s usual interruptions. “Yoshiko–chan, this is Maki–chan. I met her in the music room playing a beautiful song on the piano.”

“Hanamaru–chan, d-don’t go around casually s-saying embarrassing things like that!” Maki stuttered in retaliation to Hanamaru’s comments, her face turning almost as red as her hair.

“Oh, another piano player with blood red hair. I think you and Riri would get along quite nicely.” Yoshiko announced, her Yohane persona taking hold once again.

“Riri?” Maki asked, still seemingly unsure of how to react around Yoshiko.

“It’s her nickname for her girlfriend, Riko–chan” Hanamaru told Maki, resulting in Yoshiko stealing the red off of Maki’s face, and somehow doubling it’s intensity.

“Zuramaru!” Yoshiko yelled, shielding her embarrassment with her hands. “What if Maki–chan thinks I'm weird for liking girls? You know I don't have that many friends.”

“It’s ok Yoshiko–chan, my two best friends Rin and Hanayo are also dating each other, so I'm not going to think any different of you for liking girls,” Maki reassured Yoshiko, who subsequently let out a long sigh of relief.

“Also, why are you worried about what Maki–chan thinks of your sexual orientation, but are perfectly fine with showing off your fallen angel shtick,” Hanamaru pointed out, receiving only a glare from Yoshiko in return.

Their conversation was cut off there, as their homeroom teacher finally arrived and started class. Taking a seat in the back left corner of the room behind Yoshiko and next to Maki, Hanamaru let her mind wander. As excited as she was for this new year, she still missed a lot of things about the previous year, with her other best friend Ruby being at the top of the list. She and Dia had decided to move to Hokkaido after Uranohoshi shut down, in part due to allowing Ruby and Leah to have a relationship without being over 1000 kilometres away from each other. Her and Yoshiko were devastated when they heard the news, but nevertheless understood and supported the Kurosawa siblings in their new stage of their lives. In a way, it may have been somewhat of a blessing in disguise for Hanamaru, given what happened towards the end of last year. Nonetheless, combined with the 3rd years graduating and Chika and You deciding to go to a different school completely, the only former  members of Aqours at this school were Yoshiko, Riko and herself. She suddenly felt quite lonely.

‘ _No, Maru, get those negative thoughts out of your mind!_ ’ She thought to herself, returning to reality with a small shake of her head. Looking to her right, she saw Maki writing down some notes for the lesson that Hanamaru should have been paying attention to. The sight of the redhead somehow erased any idea of loneliness right out of her mind.

‘ _That’s right Maru, a new year means new opportunities, and new ways to enjoy life_.’ With those words now firmly etched into her mind, she turned back to the lesson at hand, a determined smile plastered onto her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another shorter chapter, but I promise that the next one will be closer in length to the first one. There is a reason that I chose not to have Ruby attend the same school as Hanamaru and Yoshiko, but it won't really be important until later in the story. 
> 
> I'm also hoping to include more members of Aqours (but probably not u's) eventually, but for the most part, these six are going to be the main characters of the story.
> 
> PS: Writing Yohane is so much fun.


	4. Chapter 4

_ Maki POV: _

Lunch break came quicker than Maki expected, and so did the arrival of her two best friends. Rin burst though the doorway at full spring with her usual surplus of energy, while Hanayo decided to go for a more normal method of walking calmly into the classroom.

“Maki–chan!” Rin exclaimed, latching herself onto Maki without any warning, though she was used to Rin’s erratic personality by now.

“Hello Rin, and you too Hanayo,” replied Maki, trying unsuccessfully to remove the ginger haired girl from her body.

“Hi Maki–chan,” Hanayo said with a knowing smile, for she knew just as well as Maki did how strong Rin’s hold is. “Oh, Hanamaru–chan, you’re in Maki’s class as well?”

“Yeah, zura,” responded Hanamaru, who was watching Maki struggle with an amused smile.

“Ok Rin, if you actually want to eat any lunch before the bell rings, I would suggest getting off me.” Rin compiled, and sat herself down next to Hanayo, who had already started munching on her Riceball. Getting her own lunch out of her bag, Maki heard a small cackle from in front of her, which she correctly deduced was coming from Yoshiko.

“Ah, so these are the companions that you have spoken about, Maki–chan. I must say, they don’t exactly fit the idea of little demons yet, but give them time and I’m sure they can be moulded into perfect minions.” Rin and Hanayo gave Maki a confused look, before Hanamaru gave them the same introduction to Yoshiko that she had gotten.

“Oh, that sounds kind of cool,” said Hanayo, with Rin nodding her head in agreement. The two of them were probably some of the least judgemental people in the world, so if they could make friends with Maki and the terrible attitude that she had at the beginning of last year, then Yoshiko’s fallen angel personality wouldn’t phase them one bit.

“Ahem,” Yoshiko said, attempting to return the attention back to her strange antics. “Now that the new arrivals have been told of my sinful past self, what say we start the transformation of them and Maki–chan into Yohane’s faithful little demons?”

“Yoshiko–chan, we are eating our lunch now, so I think the demons can wait a little bit” came Hanamaru’s monotone voice in between bites of her giant sandwich. 

“But—”

“Yocchan,” came an unfamiliar, yet soothing voice from the hallway. Turning around, Maki saw a very pretty girl with red hair, much darker than hers, walking towards their makeshift lunch group. “I think that you can leave Yohane behind for lunch break today.”

“R-Riri,” Yoshiko stuttered, the blush she had earlier in the day returning in full force. “If t-that’s what you think, then how can I say no?” She promptly sat back down, with the girl she assumed was Riko, Yoshiko’s girlfriend that Hanamaru mentioned earlier, taking a seat next to the defeated fallen angel.

“I don’t know if Yocchan or Hanamaru–chan mentioned me before I got here, but I’m Riko Sakurauchi, a new third year here at the school, and the girlfriend of the troublesome person to my right.” Riko explained, confirming Maki’s suspicions. Rin and Hanayo though, were much more excited with their reactions, their eyes lighting up as they rushed over to Riko and Yoshiko with a bombardment of questions. Maki smirked, expecting a multitude of double dates on the horizon for the quartet.

“Isn’t it nice?” Hanamaru wondered out loud, catching Maki off guard as she failed to notice the brunette move next to her. “Being in a relationship like that, it’s only something I’ve ever experienced through books. I can’t imagine how amazing it must be to actually have it happen in real life.” She gave a small sigh as she finished, which for some reason prompted a question from Maki.

“Do you want to experience it?” she blurted out, covering up her mouth immediately as she realised the implications that statement could hold. 

Luckily for her, Hanamaru just laughed her blunder off, replying “Maybe I do, but I don’t think I could do it now.” Maki was about to ask what she meant by that, but the bell cut her off, and in the rush for their friends to get back to their own classes, the thought slipped her mind.

The rest of the day went by in a similarly boring way like her first day last year, and soon it was time for the students to head home. Their lunch group met up by the gates, and discussed which route each of them took to get home.

“Hanayo and Rin live in the opposite direction from me, so we aren’t able to hang out much after school unless we decided to have a sleepover.” Maki explained to the new trio of girls, pointing in the direction of her house.

"I live in that direction as well, so would it be alright if I walked with you then?" Hanamaru asked with a hopeful smile.   
  
"Sure, I don't mind," replied Maki, seeing no reason to turn down her new friend. Riko bid the rest of them goodbye as she walked towards where her mum had parked, while Yoshiko was surrounded by Rin and Hanayo on either side, struggling to keep up her persona amid the bombardment of questions about her relationship with Riko. The poor girl looked over to Hanamaru for some help, but she just waved her childhood friend off and turned the other way.    
  
Maki made a mental note never to get on Hanamaru's bad side after that, as she too turned to make her way home.    
  
Not having much experience with walking home with someone, or having any other people she would call friends except for Rin and Hanayo until today, Maki was unsure of how to handle the new situation she found herself in. Due to that uncertainty, the two of them had been walking in almost complete silence for a good five minutes before Maki found the courage to start a conversation.

“So, how did you find your first day at Numazu High?” she asked, not really knowing what else to say.

“It was great, zura!” Hanamaru replied enthusiastically. “I was a but unsure about how well I was going to fit in only knowing Yoshiko and Riko, but you, Rin and Hanayo made it really easy to get settled in.”

“Really?” said Maki, fighting hard within to keep herself from blushing at the complement. “Well, hopefully we can help make the days to come even better!” she said with confidence she didn’t even know she had, before muttering to herself “I hope they can at least be better than my first days.”

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that last part Maki–chan, could you repeat it?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I was just, um, saying that Yoshiko–chan is going to have a tough time dealing with both Rin and Hanayo while walking home, isn’t she?” Maki said, not wanting to bother Hanamaru with her problems from last year.

“Yeah, Yoshiko often uses Yohane to get out of situations she would rather not be in, but something tells me that it’s not going to work for those two,” said Hanamaru, laughing to herself at what Maki could only assume was her mental image of Yoshiko stuttering her way through her friend’s various questions about various topics regarding her and Riko. 

Seriously, this girl look sweet and innocent on the outside, yet seemed to hold a very strong mischievous side as well.

“Well, I head over that way from here, what about you Maki–chan?” Hanamaru said, breaking Maki out of her daydreams once again. She looked at where the brunette was pointing, and replied with a shake of her head.

“I keep going up the hill ahead, so I guess this is where we go our separate ways.” She was kind of sad that they couldn’t walk for longer together, but there was nothing she could do about that. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Hanamaru–chan.”

“Bye Maki–chan, and thanks for the wonderful first day!” Hanamaru replied, crossing over the street and heading off on her own way.

Maki waved goodbye to the girl until she was out of sight, then turned to head home herself. She felt a little lonely now that Hanamaru had gone, but it was a different kind of feeling to when she said goodbye to Rin and Hanayo. Shrugging it off as nothing she needed to worry about, she made her way up the hill, hoping that she would be able to hold true to her promise to make the rest of Hanamaru’s days at Numazu High even better than her first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first day is finally over!
> 
> The next section of the story will mostly be about properly developing Hanamaru and Maki's relationship. I'm not certain as to how long it will take before these two actually develop romantic feelings for each other, so yeah... I put the slow burn tag there for a reason.
> 
> Hope you guys are still enjoying it, any feedback is always welcome.


	5. Chapter 5

_ Hanamaru POV: _

The library really is amazing. It was something Hanamaru had known for years, but the libraries she had known back then paled in comparison to Numazu High’s. The sheer quantity and variety of books it had on it’s shelves left Hanamaru speechless when she first discovered it, and more than a week later, she still hasn’t quite come to terms with how amazing it was. 

So of course she found herself reading in one of the far corners of the library, hidden from the rest of the outside world, absorbed in a fictional world far grander than her own. At least, until she noticed someone sitting next to her out of the corner of her eye. Tearing her eyes away from the book, looked to her right and found Maki staring back.

“Oh, sorry Hanamaru–chan, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Maki said, panicking slightly at her presence being noticed.

“Don’t worry about it Maki–chan, I chose to stop reading and look up. Besides, I read all the time, so a break every now and then is probably a good thing,” Hanamaru reassured Maki, making sure her friend knew that she hadn’t done anything wrong. It seemed to work, as she seemed to calm down and relax somewhat. “So, what are you doing in the library today instead of the music room?”

“The choir booked out the room today, so I thought that this would be the next best place to be able to relax.” Looking at the lack of people around them, she added “I guess my thoughts were correct.”

“I didn’t know this school had a choir.” said Hanamaru. A school having a choir wasn’t exactly unusual, so she wasn’t actually surprised by that, more so that she hadn’t heard of them in the week she had been at the school.

“They’re actually pretty good,” Maki responded. “I considered joining them last year, but being a part of a large group of people wasn’t exactly my thing.” Hanamaru noticed Maki’s expression change slightly after saying that, looking somewhat more sour than it had been before. Deciding that a sad look didn’t suit Maki whatsoever, she decided to try and cheer her up a little bit.

“It’s actually pretty fun once you get used to the atmosphere and everything,” Hanamaru said, hoping that getting Maki talking would take her mind off of whatever was bothering her.

“You sung in choirs?” Maki asked, Hanamaru’s plan seemingly working as the redhead seemingly turned her focus from her thoughts to Hanamaru.

“Yeah, I did it in middle school, and had planned to continue in high school until Aqours happened.”   


“Aqours?” questioned Maki, obviously unfamiliar with the name.

“Have you ever heard of school idols?” Hanamaru asked, earning a shake of the head from Maki. “Well, like the name suggests, they are like regular idols, but in schools. Back in Uranohoshi, a girl named Chika created a school idol group, and I ended up getting roped into it thanks to my friend Ruby. I’m not surprised that you never heard of us, as we weren’t exactly the most popular group considering barely anybody outside of our area knew who we were.”

“I take it this group no longer exists, considering the closure of Uranohoshi,” Maki said, with Hanamaru nodding her head in response.

“It’s kinda sad that it didn’t last longer, but I don’t regret a thing about it. Yoshiko–chan and Riko–chan were also members, so getting to know, or re-know in Yoshiko’s case, these amazing people who I can call my friends was probably the best part of all.” Hanamaru paused for a second, thinking about the rest of Aqours, and wondering what they were doing right now. Shaking off those nostalgic thoughts, she turned to Maki and decided she wanted to know a little bit more about her. “What made you start playing piano?” she asked, continuing with the music theme they seemed to be on.

“Oh, it isn’t really that interesting of a story. My parents thought that it would be good for me to play an instrument, and we happened to have a grand piano in our house already.”

“Wow, you weren’t lying when you said it wasn’t interesting,” Hanamaru said, laughing as she received a hard glare from Maki in return.

“That was the part where you reassured me that my story was interesting,” she muttered, though the smile on her face showed that she still found Hanamaru’s response somewhat amusing. “So, do you miss it?” Maki asked, returning to their previous point of conversation.

Hanamaru thought about it for a moment, unsure of how to properly answer it. “I’m not really sure, to be honest, zura. Of course I loved almost every moment of it, and being a part of something with so many amazing people is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. However, I enjoy change, and starting something brand new like this has just as many charms as continuing with something older.” Looking back at Maki’s surprised face, she quickly realised how cheesy that must have sounded. “Sorry, I have a bit of a tendency to drift off into my own world like that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Maki responded. “I actually thought what you were saying was quite cool.” 

“Really?” Hanamaru said, though the blush that had spread onto Maki’s cheeks indicated that she was probably not going to repeat herself. 

Leaning back on the bean bag she was sitting on, Hanamaru went back to reading her book, while Maki looked through some of her sheet music. Hanamaru knew this because she couldn’t really concentrate on reading for more than about five minutes before her eyes darted over to the redhead next to her. She had only known the girl for a week, and yet Hanamaru felt almost as close to her as she did to Yoshiko. Yet, there was something different about how she felt about Maki as well, a feeling that filled her with both hope and despair at the same time. Once again lost in her own little world, Hanamaru failed to notice Maki trying to talk to her until she felt a sof finger poke her cheek.

“Hanamaru–chan, have you returned to this plane of existence yet?” Maki questioned, looking at Hanamaru with a mixture of concern and amusement.

“Oh, sorry Maki–chan, are you leaving now?” said Hanamaru, embarrassed to be once again caught in dreamland.

“Yes, and so are you, the library is closing now.” 

Looking down at her watch, Hanamaru saw that it was indeed 5:00pm, and wondered how time had moved so much quicker today than it usually did. Putting her book back on the shelf nearby, she and Maki made their way to the exit, with Hanamaru giving the librarian a quick apology as they left.

“Ahh, I’m really sorry Maki, I don’t know why I was so spaced out today, zura” Hanamaru sighed.

“It’s OK, though I have to ask what you were thinking about back there,” Mai replied, a her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“Oh,” Hanamaru said, recalling her thoughts about Maki with even more embarrassment. “It wasn’t a-anything important, anyway, my mum will probably be angry at me if I don’t get home soon, so I need to run, bye Maki–chan!” Hanamaru didn’t need to look back to know that Maki was probably extremely confused by her sudden exit, but she refused to let her friend see her face as red as it currently was. 

It was only after Maki was well out of sight that Hanamaru stopped to catch her breath, immediately regretting the lack of exercise she had done since Aqours finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always been a bit of a headcanon of mine that Hanamaru daydreams a lot, for whatever reason, so I decided to put it on full display here.
> 
> The next chapter may take longer to release than usual due to Uni starting up again for me, but I'll do my best to get it out as quickly as I can.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the long wait between chapters,Uni is hard work, and having two assignments and two tests in the space of 4 days is not fun, and took up a lot of time. (I've also been playing quite a bit of Bang Dream, but that's not really an excuse).
> 
> Anyway, it's here now, and I should hopefully be able to get the next couple of chapters out in the usual time of about a week each, as I more or less know how they are going to play out, but I can't make any promises beyond that.
> 
> I hope that you guys are still enjoying it, and hopefully continue to enjoy it.

_ Maki POV: _ _  
_ Maki enjoyed playing the piano. While it may not have been something she was particularly interested in when her parents first suggested it, she gradually grew to love the instrument. Despite that love however, she still never felt comfortable playing it in front of others. It wasn’t because she was embarrassed about it, but more so that she prefered playing in the silence that was offered when she was alone. Because of this, baring her parents and occasionally Rin and Hanayo, no one had actually sat down and listened to her play.

That is until today.

Sitting on a chair a couple metres away from her was Hanamaru, watching Maki intently as she got her sheet music set up.

“You know Hanamaru–chan, you don’t have to force yourself to stay here and watch me practice,” Maki said, slightly nervous at the thought of the brunette listening to her music properly.

“Of course I do, zura!” came Hanamaru’s instant reply. “I didn’t get to hear you finish last time thanks to my clumsiness, so this time I just have to watch it completely!” The adamant look on her face told Maki that there would be no convincing her otherwise on the matter, so she decided that she may as well just get it over with.

The music room was silent save for their breathing, giving off a rather intense atmosphere for what was for all intensive purposes no different to any other piano practice. Gathering up her courage, Maki placed her fingers on the keys, and begun to play.

It soon became clear to Maki that this was much different to playing by herself. The nervous energy that had been building up inside coursed through her body, giving her performance much more energy and emotion than usual. She had never performed in any competitions before, but she imagined that this was what it must have felt like. The longer the piece went on, the smoother she played, until the entire piece seemed to blend into one constant sound. In what felt like no time at all, the song was over, and Maki finally looked up in the direction of Hanamaru.

She looked similar to how she was when she drifts off, but there was something else there as well. Awe was the first word that came to her mind, but she immediately discarded that idea, adamant that nobody would ever consider her playing worthy of that emotion. The sound of clapping quickly brought her out of her self deprecating thoughts however.

“That was amazing!” Hanamaru exclaimed, the applause continuing on for another 10 or so seconds. “You sounded so good, probably even better than Riko–chan, though don’t tell her I said that.” 

Maki couldn’t believe the words she was hearing, never receiving anything quite like this from her parents and friends. She was speechless for who knows how long, before she managed to squeak out a soft “Thank you”.

“Can you play some more?” the brunette asked, to which Maki could only nod her head in affirmation. Getting her music folder from out of her bag, she began flipping though the songs. After looking at about half of her pieces, Hanamaru reached over and pointed at one of the pieces she was looking at.

“I know this one, we sung it in choir during my final year of middle school, zura.” 

“Really?” Maki replied in surprise. “Well, do you want me to play this one then?”

“Sure!” came Hanamaru’s enthusiastic reply, obviously excited to hear more of Maki’s piano playing. Setting up the new set of sheet music, she began to play once again, but nearly stopped in shock after a few seconds. To go along with her playing, a new sound emerged from the music room, namely Hanamaru’s voice singing along with the piano accompaniment. Her voice was strong yet controlled, perfectly on key, and brimming with confidence. Angelic was the word Maki thought of to describe it, though even that may not have been enough to reflect just how beautiful she found the brunette’s voice. So engrossed with Hanamaru’s singing, Maki barely even noticed her own voice begin to harmonise with her, a skill she learned a few years ago but had never actually put into practice until now. She was lost in a trance, going through the motions as the song continued. Like all great things though, it eventually came to an end, though far too quickly for her liking.

“Wow,” Maki whispered, breaking the silence that had engulfed them in the aftermath of the song. 

“You can say that again, zura,” came Hanamaru’s soft voice across from her, the brunette clearly just as awed by their performance as Maki was.

“Wow,” replied Maki, earning her a rolling of the eyes from Hanamaru.

“You didn’t actually have to repeat yourself you know?”

“Think of it as payback from that time in the library.” They shared a smile with each other, before Maki’s mind went back to their performance. There was something different about it, that much was obvious. What was also obvious was that it most certainly had something to do with Hanamaru’s presence. The problem was pinpointing exactly what about Hanamaru made the performance so exhilarating.

“So, Maki–chan, are you going to play some more?” said Hanamaru, interrupting Maki from her thoughts.

“Oh, sure, if you want me to,” she answered, still apparently not used to having people ask her to play. She got out another piece of music, and went back to playing by herself, Hanamaru perfectly content to sit and watch her.

They continued like this for another half an hour, until their booking time ran out, before leaving the school grounds and heading home.

“Hey Maki–chan, why did you agree to let me come in and listen to you? Rin–chan and Hanayo–chan said that you basically always prefer to play alone.” 

Maki thought about the question for a second, before coming to the realization that she didn’t really know why herself.

“I’m not sure actually. I think that it was just an instinctive thing when you asked. Besides, I did kinda interrupt your precious library time the other day.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, Maki–chan!” Hanamaru exclaimed, with a bit more vigour than Maki excepted. Apparently Hanamaru herself didn't mean to be quite that passionate about the statement either, as she blushed and turned away for a second immediately afterwards. “You should think better about yourself, zura.”

Maki wasn’t really sure what she meant by that, but didn’t get the chance to ask her, as they had already reached their point of divergence on their trip home. After waving each other goodbye as they usually did, Maki’s mind went back to their duet in the music room, annoyed that she couldn’t figure out why it felt so good. 

It was still on her mind even as she got back home, and didn’t leave until sleep took her later that night.


	7. Chapter 7

_Hanamaru POV:_

“So, are your friends going to come sometime this year?” Maki asked Hanamaru, clearly growing somewhat impatient.

“I think we should give them a bit more time, it’s only been about five minutes since we all got here,” said Hanayo, trying to reason with Maki.

“Yeah, I don’t see the problem with them being a little late,” added Rin, always one to see any situation with a bright light.

“That’s because they’re still about 10 minutes early by your standards,” Maki replied with a sigh. “Remember that time we agreed to see a movie last year, and we nearly missed the beginning because you got lost on the way?”

“We didn’t miss anything, so I don’t see the problem, nya.”

“There’s like, half an hour of ads before movies actually begin. I don’t consider being that late fine at all.”

“Those ads are boring anyway, I think I did you guys a favour.”

“It’s not about the end result, it’s about the mindset, and yours is—”

“Hey guys,” interrupted Hanamaru, who was actually quite enjoying watching their pointless argument.

“What?” Rin and Maki asked simultaneously.

“They’re here,” she said, before turning around and waving over the four girls standing at the entrance to the cafe. Two of them were Yoshiko and Riko, but it was the first time the others had seen the two new girls, so Hanamaru decided to introduce them herself.

“Everyone, this is Chika–chan and You–chan, my seniors from last year, and fellow former members of Aqours.” Chika gave them an energetic wave, while You produced her signature “Yousoro!” salute, much to the surprise of those already sitting down.

“Hey, you have orange hair, just like me!” Chika exclaimed, pointing excitedly at Rin.

“Oh my god, I’ve never met another person with my coloured hair, this is awesome!” came Rin’s naturally energetic response.

‘ _Yeah, those two are going to get along just fine,’_ thought Hanamaru, introducing her new friends to her old ones and making room for them to sit down.

“So, what have my little demons been up to recently?” Yoshiko asked, one hand over her left eye, while everyone else rolled theirs.

“Well, Rin and I spent last weekend camping with our families,” Hanayo said, with Rin nodding her head vigorously next to her.

“Yeah, it was super fun, nya! We went fishing at a river nearby, roasted marshmallows by the fire, slept together in the same tent—”

“Rin, they don’t need to hear about _everything_ we did!” Hanayo exclaimed, hiding her bright red face behind her hands. Rin however, didn’t seem to see the issue. Neither did Yoshiko, apparently.

“Do not be afraid of your romantic exploits Hanayo, for only yesterday, Riri and I—”

“YOCHAN, DON’T!” Riko yelled, pushing her hands over Yoshiko’s mouth before anything else embarrassing was revealed.

“Stop being so cute guys, you’re making me jealous that I’m still not in a relationship,” complained Chika.

“That’s what we get for being the only straight girls in Aqours, Chika–chan” added You, punching her best friend lightly on the shoulder.

“Wait, does that mean that Hanamaru–chan likes girls as well?” asked Rin, promoting Hanamaru to suddenly become worried about the direction this conversation was heading.

“Of course, Riko even got her into reading her sappy doujins” You answered while looking smugly at her Riko.

“I really wish that you and Chika hadn’t ever found out about my hobby in the first place. you always tease me about it, but never Hanamaru!”

“That’s because Hanamaru doesn’t have as good of a reaction when we tease her as you do,” replied Chika, as the two childhood friends high-fived each other.

“Oh yeah, Hanamaru–chan,” You said to her, giving Hanamaru a bad feeling about her immediate future. “I meant to ask you this when we first sat down, but Maki–chan your girlfriend?”

Hanamaru froze, as she hadn’t even thought about Maki in that way before. Now that the idea was in her mind though, she began to question her feelings for her new friend, and thinking back to the more intimate moments the two of them had shared in the library and the music room. Did she like Maki? Did Maki like her? All these questions came rushing into her head, before Maki finally spoke up.

“W-what are you talking about, Hanamaru–chan and I are j-just friends,” she stuttered, face even redder than her hair from embarrassment, if that was even possible. Deciding that going with the flow was the safest option for her now, Hanamaru quickly nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah, we haven’t even known each other for that long really, zura.” Hanamaru really didn’t want this conversation to continue, at least until she had time to think about it, and was desperately trying to think of a way to move onto another topic before Yoshiko suddenly stood up from her seat.

“My precious little demons, while it pleases the great Yohane that you all wish to know each other better, it is unacceptable that such matters be discussed in a location as unworthy as this quaint coffee shop,” she exclaimed dramatically, all eyes now focused on her antics, including some of the staff who seemed somewhat unimpressed that their shop was being called ‘unworthy’. After noticing those hard looks, she quickly reverted back to her Yoshiko persona and appolagised before sitting back down, giving Hanamaru a quick, but knowing smile.

She may be an idiot sometimes, but there really was nobody who knew Hanamaru better than her, and Hanamaru was extremely grateful to have someone like her to help her out of situations like that.

“You know, despite her presentation, Yochan has a point,” Riko stated. “We can’t stay here forever to talk and have fun, so we should organise something else while the holidays are still on.”

“Well, we could always have a sleepover at someone’s place, those are always fun,” suggested You, looking around the table for reactions.

“Yeah, I’ve only ever been to Yoshiko’s place before, so it would be nice to see someone else's home, zura,” Hanamaru added in agreement, while the rest of them nodded their heads in approval of the idea.

“Well, now that that’s set, whose place should we have it at?” Chika asked.

“Umm, Maki’s place is quite spacious, so I think that it would be able to house all eight of us,” said Hanayo, promoting two very different reactions from girls either side of her.

“Great idea Kayo–chin!” exclaimed Rin, hugging her girlfriend enthusiastically. “There’s so many fun things to do at Maki–chan’s place, it’ll be awesome!”

“I think that someone else's place might be better actually,” Maki said nervously, clearly not wanting the rest of them at her house for whatever reason.

“Come on Maki–chan!” Rin whined, letting go of Hanayo and looking at the redhead with pleading eyes. “It’ll be so much more fun if we have it at your house, and we’ve been over there before, so it’s not like your parents will be against it or anything.”

“If you are hiding any dark secrets in your humble abode, then it will only be a matter of time before my powers discover them anyway, so why not reveal them without any inhibitions?” Yoshiko said with a booming voice, before receiving whack on the head from Riko.

“I’m sure what Yochan meant was that it would be nice for us to all hang out at a place where we know we’ll have fun, and Rin–chan and Hanayo–chan seem to think that it’s a good idea,” she added, prompting another wave of nodding heads, baring Maki obviously.

“I don’t know…” Maki muttered, seemingly close to giving in.

“I really want to go and see your house, Maki–chan,” said Hanamaru, really curious as to why Maki was so reluctant in showing them her home. “Please?”

That looked to be the final nail in the coffin, as Maki let out a long sigh before finally relenting. “Fine, but you’ve all got to promise that you won’t think any different of me once you see it.”

“YAY!” shouted Rin, jumping over Hanayo and wrapping her arms around her unwilling target.

“Rin, get off of me!” Maki yelled in response, as the rest of them broke out into laughter at the comical scene in front of them.

The rest of the day went by quick, and they scheduled the sleepover for the day after next. Hanamaru couldn’t wait for the day to come, not just because she wanted to find out what Maki’s house was like, but also because it might give her a chance to think and talk with Maki about the whole ‘girlfriend’ thing. She had only ever had one crush before, and that didn’t exactly end well, so she wasn’t sure whether what she felt for Maki was the same thing, or even if she wanted it to be or not. All she knew was that the sooner she figured it out, the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT!? CHIKA AND YOU AREN'T GAY!? WHAT IS THIS BLASPHEMY!?
> 
> Actually though, the main reason for making Chika and You straight is mostly so that I don't have to worry about writing for 3 different couples and one couple to be at the same time. Plus, their roles in the next few chapters are going to be more focused on them separately, so it's just easier for me this way.
> 
> Hope you're looking forward to the next chapter, the sleepover arc is probably going to span about 3 or so chapters, so I hope that it doesn't take me too long to write it.


	8. Chapter 8

_ Maki POV: _

Maki was generally a fairly calm person. Years of playing the piano by herself had given her an ability to block out large parts of the world without much trouble. She wasn’t emotionless, but she was very rarely nervous.

Today was the exception.

Waiting nervously at her front gate for her friends to arrive, she was extremely worried about their reactions to her house, or rather, mansion. Rin and Hanayo had been over before, so she knew that they were fine with it, but everyone else’s impressions were still unknown variables. Hanamaru, Riko and Yoshiko knew that she was fairly wealthy, but she had never told them just how well of she was compared to the majority of people, and she barely even knew Chika and You at this point. What if they hated her because of her wealth? What if they didn’t want to be friends with her anymore? What if—.

“Maki–chan!” yelled out an energetic voice from about 10 meters away. Maki had been so absorbed in her own fears, that she hadn’t even noticed Rin and Hanayo had already arrived.

“Oh, thank god you two arrived first, I don’t think I could have faced the others by myself,” Maki siad with a worried look plastered onto her face.

“Don’t worry too much about it Maki–chan,” Hanayo stated, as the both of them already knew about Maki’s fears about her financial situation, having experienced it first hand when they first became friends. “That’s why we decided to come early in the first place, to make sure that you’d be ok.”

“Yeah, we’re here for you Maki–chan, you can always count on us, nya!” added Rin, bringing the three of them into a group hug.

“Rin, Hanayo…” Maki whispered, coming close to tearing up due to their compassion, before pulling herself back together. “Thank you, both of you. You really are the best friends I could ever ask for.”

“We know!” Rin said teasingly, bringing a smile to them all.

“Speaking about friends, here come the rest of them,” Hanayo pointed out, as five new faces emerged from around the corner. They all noticed the three of them at about the same time, went to wave, before noticing the house that they were standing in front of and stopping immediately. 

Maki’s house was big. So big, that it was about 3 times as tall as the ones either side of it, and even more in terms of area. There was a garden out the front, a spa pool behind the house (which they couldn’t see yet), and was just extremely overwhelming in general. Maki prepared herself for the worst, before one of them finally spoke up.

“Wow, this is AMAZING!” exclaimed Chika, her face a mix between awe and excitement. “Riko said you were fairly rich, but I didn’t think you were  _ this _ rich!”

“To be fair, neither did we,” added Riko, who looked almost as amazed as Chika did. Hanamaru and You just kept their mouths wide open, too stunned to say anything, while Yoshiko came running up to Maki with literal sparkles in her eyes.

“Maki–chan! Your house is so awesome, it would be a perfect setting for my next livestream! Could you  _ please _ let me come over next week so that I can stream here?” she said, barely any break between her sentences. 

Maki was stunned. While her only experience of introducing people to her house was a positive one with Hanayo and Rin, she just assumed that they were the exception, rather than the rule. If her friend’s reactions were anything to go by, then maybe her wealth wasn’t something that she needed to worry about, or at least worry as much as she had been.

“S-sure, I don’t see any reason why not,” she replied, still coming to terms with the acceptance she was receiving (and also not used to seeing ‘Yoshiko’ instead of ‘Yohane’).

“Thank you thank you soooo much Maki–chan!” the dark haired girl said, hugging Maki with such vigour that she was worried her body would be crushed by the pressure. Luckily for her, the other girls had recovered from the sight of her house, with Riko and Hanamaru walking over to pry Yoshiko off of her.

“Sorry about that, she can be surprisingly clingy when she’s excited, zura,” Hanamaru explained, while Riko dragged the so-called fallen angel over to where the rest of the group was standing.

“Come on guys, I’ll show you around Maki’s place!” Rin exclaimed, looking even more excited than usual, if that was even possible.

“Hey, I thought this was my house, not yours,” Maki pointed out as she and Hanamaru also joined the group of six girls standing at her gate. “Besides, you can barely remember your way around school, so how could you possibly give a tour of a house you’ve only been to three times?”

“Bah, you worry too much Maki–chan,” Rin replied with a sense of confidence that was most certainly faked. “But if you insist, lead the way, nya.”

With that, the Nishikino household tour began, as Maki showed them around through all the rooms of her house, like the study, ballroom, and kitchen (which to Chika’s dismay, did not have any mikans readily available). One thing that continued to stick to the back of her mind however, was the short brunette that she found by her side more often than not during the tour. The awkward situation at the cafe had been defused rather quickly thanks to Yoshiko’s antics, but Maki couldn’t help herself from thinking about it further. She liked girls, that much she knew, but she had never given much thought into being in an actual relationship. Whether she wanted to or not, her thoughts continued to drift towards Hanamaru, and just how quickly the two of them had become friends. Possibly more than friends even.

_ ‘Stop that Maki, there's no way she actually likes you in that way,’ _ she thought to herself, shaking her head quickly as she continued the tour. The more she thought about Hanamaru, the more she realized how much she liked the girl. She also realised how unlikely it was that her newfound feelings would be reciprocated, and found herself in a continuous loop of hope and despair. She shook off her thoughts once again, and eventually the tour was over.

“Well, now that everyone more or less knows their way around the house, you can all go and do whatever you want until dinner.”

“What are you going to do, Maki–chan?” Hanamaru asked, making Maki’s heart beat unnaturally fast. 

“I-I’m going to go and do some piano p-practice in my room, so I’ll see you all later!” she quickly stuttered out, before walking as quickly as she could, without making it look too weird, up the stairs to her room. After closing the door, she made her way over to her bed and lay down, having absolutely no intention to play her piano whatsoever. Instead, she was going to use that time to sort out her feelings about Hanamaru once and for all, and figure out what she was going to do about them if she did decide that she did like her.

That was, until, she heard a knock on her door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could be knocking on Maki's door? Find out next time, on Brighter Than a Book Could Ever Be!
> 
> Ok, that was kinda cheesy, but I couldn't help myself. I've also always liked the idea of Maki being worried about how other people viewed her and her wealth, so I decided now was as good a time as any to cover it.
> 
> Next chapter may end up taking me a little longer to write, but it shouldn't be more than two weeks. Hope you guys are still enjoying it!


	9. Chapter 9

_ You POV: _

_ 5 Minutes Earlier _

You had originally made her comment about Hanamaru and Maki at the cafe as a joke, and she dismissed their red faced reactions as a nothing to be concerned about at the time. This house tour on the other hand, was making her begin to reconsider her view on their relationship. Both girls seemed relatively normal for the most part, but whenever their eyes came into contact with each other, they would both immediately look the other way. You only saw it in her peripheral vision at first, but once she started paying attention to it, it became obvious that both of them were trying to avoid each other. She wasn’t the only one who had noticed them either.

“Hey You–chan, can I talk to you for a minute?” Chika said to her, bringing You out of earshot from the rest of the group while Maki was showing them the pool.

“What do you want to talk about?” You asked, though she was fairly confident about what the answer was going to be.

“You’ve noticed the way Hanamaru–chan and Maki–chan have been acting towards each other, right?” replied Chika, earning a nod of the head from You. “I’m worried about them, and though I don’t know much about Maki–chan, we both know that Hanamaru–chan is definitely the type to bottle up her feelings until it’s too late.”

“You can say that again,” said You, thinking back to the end of last year. “Whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem like the two of them are comfortable around each other at the moment, and that’s more than likely going to make this entire sleepover extremely awkward for everyone.”

“Unless we can do something about it, that is,” Chika pointed out, a grin forming on her face.

“You just can’t help messing with other people’s love lives, can you?”

“Hey, it worked for Riko–chan and Yoshiko–chan, and don’t forget that you had just as big a part to play in that as I did!”

“I know, I know.” You sighed, knowing that it was eventually going to come down to this. “So, what’s the plan?”

  
“Well, the house tour will probably be over soon, so once that happens, I’ll find a way to get Hanamaru–chan alone, you do the same for Maki–chan, then we figure out what’s going on between then and help them sort it out!” Chika said, smile at full brightness at the thought of helping her friends.

“You always make these plans sound so much simpler than they actually are,” sighed You once again. “Hey, why do you get to decide who helps which person?”

“Because I made the plan, duh,” replied Chika as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, before adding under her breath “besides, Maki kinda scares me with how serious she seems to be all the time.”

Knowing that Chika wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise, You agreed to the plan, and two of them made their way back to the main group. Deciding that she would take half an hour after the tour to talk to Rin and Hanayo to get to know Maki a bit better before talking to the redead, You began thinking of what she was going to do in order to get Maki to trust her.

_ Present Time _

Sometimes plans don’t work out however, and when Maki ran off to her room by herself, You knew that she wasn’t going to get a better time to talk to the girl alone than this. So, that is why she now stood at Maki’s door, waiting (and hoping) for it to open. Luckily for her, it didn’t take long before Maki poked her head out nervously, before a look of surprise took to her face when she saw that You was the one who had knocked on her door.

“You–senpai? What are you doing here?” Maki asked, clearly not expecting her of all the people here to be standing outside her room.

“Hi Maki–chan, would you mind if I came in for a little bit?”

“Oh, of course, you’re the guest here!” she quickly exclaimed, opening the door fully to let You inside.

The first thing You noticed about Maki’s room was that it was extremely clean and ordered. The carpet was spotless, her bed well made and desk clear of any sort of clutter whatsoever. Basically, it was the complete opposite of You’s room, which had uniforms scattered everywhere and a bunch of rubbish pushed into the corner that she really needed to throw out someday.

“So, did you want to talk to me about something?” Maki asked, sitting down in the seat of her piano, and motioning for You to take the bead.

“Yeah, about that,” You started, sitting down on Maki’s bead (which was  _ super  _ soft and comfortable by the way). “I’m not exactly the most subtle person in the world, so I’m going to jump straight to the point. What’s going on between you and Hanamaru–chan?”

Maki froze up for a second, before adamantly shaking her head. “W-what do you mean? There’s strange going on between me and Hanamaru–chan.” You however, wasn’t going to back off that easily, especially considering her behaviour earlier in the day.

“Look Maki–chan, I’m not going to say I’m the most observant person in the world, because I’m not, but even I could see that the two of you were acting strange around each other.” Looking the redhead directly in the eyes, You waited a few moments before Maki gave in.

“Fine, but just so you know, this was your fault in the first place,” she responded, all but confirming You’s suspicions as to what was going on inside her head. “I’m not 100% sure yet, but I think there may be a very good chance that I have a crush on Hanamaru–chan.” An obvious blush had made its way across Maki’s cheeks, and it took all of You’s mental willpower not to gush about how cute she looked when embarrassed.

“Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised, the way you two were looking at each other reminded me a lot of how Yoshiko and Riko were back before they found the guts to actually ask the other out,” You commented, earning a surprised gasp from the girl in front of her.

“You mean Hanamaru was looking at me like that as well?” asked Maki, looking half curious to hear You’s response and half fearful that she misunderstood her comment.

“Wow, you really must have been out of it if you didn’t notice Hanamaru–chan was doing the exact same thing you were,” You confirmed.

“Really? I thought she was just doing that because she was weirded out by the strange looks I was giving her.” Maki went silent for a few more seconds, before asking, “So, do you think that she may also feel the same way?”

“I haven’t asked her, but even if I had, I still probably wouldn’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because,” You said, making sure to phrase her words correctly, “I think that finding out whether someone likes you or not is better when it comes from the person you like’s mouth directly. Not that I have any experience in love or anything like that, but that just seems like the best way to go about things in my opinion.”

“I take it then, that you are telling me all of this so that Hanamaru and I can sort out our feelings so that the sleepover doesn’t turn into one awkward mess,” Maki stated, the air of composure that she held back at the cafe returning now that she had gotten over her embarrassment.

“Good to see that you catch on fast, replied You with a smile, as she and Maki shared a small chuckle with each other. You was glad that she was getting along with her, much more than she originally thought she would when Chika first told her the plan. Speaking of which, she hoped Chika was making as much progress with Hanamaru as she had done with Maki.

_ Chika POV: _

Excitement was the only thing going through Chika’s mind as she and Hanamaru walked over to a nearby tree. She was lucky that Hanamaru loved to eat as much as she did, as her constant snacking throughout the house tour prevented her from going swimming with the two couples of the group. Therefore, Chika had suggested that the two of them go over to a more shaded area to catch up on how they had both been doing since the end of last year. Or at the very least, once specific thing from Chika’s point of view.

“So, how’s life as a second year student Hanamaru–chan?” Chika started off, wanting to start of innocently enough and hope she could naturally transition the conversation to her desired topic.

“It’s really fun, zura!” Hanamaru replied instantly. “I love jumping into new things, and I’ve made a bunch of new friends so far, so I really couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”

In awe at how pure the girl in front of her was, Chika resisted the temptation to bring up Maki immediately, though she wouldn’t have got the chance anyway, as Hanamaru asked her, “How about you, Chika–chan? Do you have any new underclassmen to rope into some crazy adventure yet?”

Laughing at how well she knew her, Chika said, “not yet unfortunately, though I do have my eyes set some some possible candidates in the near future.”

“You know, that would sound kinda creepy if you weren’t straight, zura,” giggled Hanamaru, who seemed to be wholeheartedly enjoying their conversation so far. However, Chika saw this as the perfect opportunity to segway towards her goal.

“Speaking of that, you never did tell us if you had a crush on anyone the other day, did you?” She made sure her tone was inquisitive rather than teasing, otherwise Hanamaru could easily get the wrong impression, especially given her past. Luckily, Hanamaru responded with a slight blush instead of annoyance or anger.

“To be fair, You–chan never actually asked me if I had a crush, only if Maki was my g-girlfriend,” Hanamaru mumbled, but Chika wasn’t going to let her off the hook just yet.

“To be fair, you never actually answered that question either, only Maki–chan gave a response.” Looking at Hanamaru’s body language, Chika was confident now that she was trying to avoid the topic, and as tempted as she was to leave it at that, she knew that nothing would get solved if that happened. “Look, Hanamaru–chan. While I can’t begin to understand what you went through last year, I do know that bottling up your emotions is never the answer, and you know that more than anyone. It’s clear as day to me that your feelings for Maki–chan go beyond that of mere friends, and I know that you haven’t had the best luck when it comes to this kind of thing, but nothing is going to happen if you do nothing about it.” Chika stopped talking for a second to catch her breath, only for Hanamaru to cling to her shirt with tears in her eyes.

“I know that it’s stupid of me to p-put it off like this, but I’m scared, zura!” she cried, trying and failing to keep herself together. “What if she doesn’t like me back, what if she ends up hating me, what if…” she trails off, as the tears overcome her once again. Chika decides that some silence would be the best thing for Hanamaru right now, so she lets the girl cry onto her shoulder, as she strokes her hair to calm her down. 

After about a minute, Hanamaru lets go of Chika and looks to her with pleading eyes. “Do you really think that it’ll be ok?” she asks quietly.

“Trust me Hanamaru–chan, I’m confident that you and Maki will be just fine,” Chika responded confidently, having already gotten a text from You while the couples were getting changed into their swimsuits regarding the success of her mission. “Besides, when have my plans ever failed?”

“Well, we did kinda get eliminated from the last Love Live in the second round, zura” Hanamaru countered, having seemingly recovered enough to make her trademark snarky comments that she usually reserves for Yoshiko.

“Hey, we totally would have aced that performance if Kanan had let me do that damn back-flip!”

“Yes, and I’m sure you would have been ecstatic about it while lying in a hospital bed.” The two of them looked at each other for a second, before bursting out into laughter at their memories from last year. They continued to laugh and chat about old times for another twenty minutes, until You came in to inform them that lunch was nearly ready. The two of them got up, and while Hanamaru sprinted inside at the sound of food, Chika and you shared a small fist bump, knowing that their part of the plan was done. Now, it was up to Maki and Hanamaru to finish the job once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed my first non-Maki/Hanamaru POV chapter. I thought that this part of the story would work better if what Maki and Hanamaru were thinking about the situation wasn't shown, and instead it was portrayed from an outsider's point of view, hence the reason for including You and Chika in this part of the story.
> 
> Also, as for Hanamaru's rather extreme reaction, especially when compared to Maki, she has had experience in heartbreak already (which will get shown and explained eventually, so look forward to that, I guess), whereas Maki in this story is brand new to the whole 'love' game, so her emotions about all of this are much more fragile than Maki's.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter will be the conclusion of the sleepover, and possibly the start of something new as we reach what is around the halfway point of this story. Hope those of you that are still reading are looking forward to it!


	10. Chapter 10

_ Hanamaru POV: _

It’s amazing what shedding a few tears can do to your confidence. After her heartfelt talk with Chika, Hanamaru had become much more comfortable around Maki, talking to her normally once again. She hadn’t confessed her feelings just yet, as she was saving that for later that night, but getting back on speaking terms was a great start. 

Also, the food at Maki’s house was AMAZING!

They had just had dinner (Turkey with roast vegetables and enough potatoes to fill up even her), and they had moved into the lounge to set up their futons. Maki had decided that she would sleep together with the rest of them instead of in her room, but even still, there was enough room to fit another five or six people easily.

“So, it’s only 8:00 pm, what do you guys want to do?” You asked the group after everything was set up.

“Tonight is a full moon, which means that it is the perfect time to summon some familiars from hell,” Yoshiko announced, draping a black sheet that she found somewhere around the house over her back like a cape.

“Oh, that sounds fun, nya!” Rin replied. “How do we do that?”

“Please don’t encourage her, Rin–chan, it’ll only serve to inflate her ego,” Hanamaru interjected, causing a few chuckles from Chika and You, while Yoshiko turned to her with a pout on her face.

“Why do you always have to bully me, Zuramaru?”

“Because it’s fun,” Hanamaru said without hesitation. “Besides, if you try to do something like that, you’ll probably be up all night, and sleep is a good thing believe it or not.”

“Besides, how do you think Riko–chan will feel knowing that you’re paying more attention to your demonic rituals than her?” Chika added, prompting the two girls in question to blush profusely.

“Ch-Chika!” Riko yelled, throwing her pillow at Chika in embarrassment, hitting her square in the face.

“Ooff!” came Chika’s muffled voice, falling down onto her futon. You then picked up her own pillow, and her eyes lit up in excitement.

“Great idea Riko–chan!” You exclaimed, raising her free hand up in the air. “PILLOW FIGHT!” With that war cry, she launched her weapon at Riko, who only just managed to duck in time, and thus the First Great Nishikino Mansion Pillow War (the name was Chika’s idea) begun. Hanamaru, not particularly wanting to be hit by a bunch of pillows, scampered behind a large couch in the corner of the room, where Hanayo also happened to be hiding.

“So, I guess your not a huge fan of pillow fights either?” Hanayo asked once she saw that Hanamaru was unarmed.

“Not particularly, Yoshiko–chan get really into them, and generally targets me due to the teasing,” whispered Hanamaru, trying to keep their location hidden.

“Well, you wouldn't have to worry about that if you didn't tease her as much,” suggested Hanayo.

“But it's so much fun, I can't help myself.”

“Do you know what's even more fun?” came a low voice from behind them. The two brunettes looked around to find Yoshiko armed with one pillow in each hand and a sinister look on her face. “Punishing unworthy little demons!” Hanayo had the sense of mind to dodge out of the way of the oncoming projectiles, but unfortunately for Hanamaru, both were aimed at her anyway.

“Zura!” she squealed as the two pillows hit her at the same time, sending her to the floor.

“That’s what you get for always making fun of me!” exclaimed Yoshiko, standing above her fallen victim with a look of satisfaction.

“Best not to get too cocky,  _ Yohane–sama, _ ” came another voice from across the room. Yoshiko turned around just in time to see a pillow whack her in the face, with a grinning Maki behind it as she retreated. Maki then held out her hand to the fallen Hanamaru. “Come on, let's show them how real pillow fighting is done.”

Nodding in agreement, Hanamaru quickly took her hand as the two of them rejoined the battle, this time as a team.

They all spent the next half an hour chucking pillows at each other, having split into four teams of two. In the end, Rin and Hanayo ended up the victors, thanks to Rin’s never ending energy supply, and Hanayo’s surprisingly effective method of ambushing other teams while the guard was down. Afterwards, with almost everyone exhausted from the activity, they decided to call it a night and go to bed.

Despite their tiring antics though, sleep alluded Hanamaru. She had meant to talk to Maki about her feelings, but just never found the right time to speak with her alone. Making sure that she wasn't disturbing anyone else, she made her way outside to go and look at the stars. While not quite as engaging as reading a book, Hanamaru had always been somewhat entranced by the clear night sky’s beauty. She had read a lot about the many different constellations, and enjoyed finding them amongst the hundreds of other sparkling stars that lit up the darkness. While she loved change, it comforted her to know that no matter what, those stars would always be there for her. She wondered if Maki liked the stars as much as her, and imagined the two of them lying together on a field under the shining moonlight.

“If only I had talked to her before, then maybe that could have been more than just a dream,” Hanamaru whispered to herself.

“Hanamaru–chan?” said a familiar voice from behind her, and sure enough, there was Maki, standing before her with a curious look on her face.

“Maki–chan?” Hanamaru replied in surprise. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, I was struggling to sleep anyway,” Maki answered, looking up at the stars Hanamaru was marvelling just a few seconds ago. Suddenly realising the situation she was in, alone with Maki under a starry sky, Hanamaru decided it was now or never, and prepared to spill her guts. Before she could however, Maki looked back at her and began speaking herself.

“Listen Hanamaru–chan, there's something I need to tell you.” 

The tone of her voice suggested that she was nervous, yet also committed to whatever she was going to say. Despite Chika’s reassurances, a part of her brain was still scared of Maki rejecting her, and thoughts that Maki had noticed that she had developed a crush on her left Hanamaru extremely frightened about what Maki was going to tell her. Nonetheless, Hanamaru was done running away and hiding from her feelings, so she stayed standing and prepared herself for the worst as Maki began.

“I don't know whether I've told you this or not, but I haven't had many friends. Rin and Hanayo were the first people I ever really connected with, and they helped show me just how amazing friends can really be.” She paused for a second, muttering something under her breath that Hanamaru couldn't quite make out, before continuing. “Then I met you, and at first it seemed like I’d gotten a third person I could call a friend. But I don't see you as just a friend anymore, you're so much more. Every moment I've spent with you recently has been one I've treasured, even more so than the ones I've spent with Rin and Hanayo.” Another pause, and Hanamaru was struggling to keep herself still, wanting more than anything to run over and hug Maki for the rest of the night, but she waited until the redhead had finished. “I've n-never actually had any experience with these kinds of feelings, so I have no idea how any of this is going to go, but I think I would really like it if I could call you my g-girlfriend,” Maki finished, and barely got a chance to gauge Hanamaru’s expression before she was tackled onto the grass.

“Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, zura!” Hanamaru exclaimed, holding Maki as tightly as she could, a few tears of happiness rolling down her face.

“Y-you really mean that?” Maki asked, a trace of nervousness still audible in her voice despite Hanamaru’s emphatic confirmation.

“Yes silly, do you think that I would tackle you in a hug like this if I didn't mean it?” replied Hanamaru, still giggling with joy.

They stayed together for about a minute before Maki started getting a little bit short on air.

“Sorry about that, zura” Hanamaru said sheepishly, helping pick Maki off the ground as the proceeded to head back inside. “Still, I can't believe that you actually confessed to me, I was all prepared to do it myself when you came outside.”

“Well, I did get a bit of encouragement earlier today,” Maki stated, rubbing the back of her head in a very cute way, at least from Hanamaru’s perspective.

“Was it You–chan?” she asked, assuming that her and Chika had plotted together in order to make this happen, just like what they did with Yoshiko and Riko.

“Yeah, she just gave me the push I needed, so I'm really thankful to her,” said Maki, as they made their way back into their futons, which were luckily enough right next to each other.

“I really hope this isn't just some amazing dream that I'm gonna wake up from in the morning,” Hanamaru whispered, taking hold of Maki’s hand.

“Me too,” replied Maki, as they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep, smiles as bright as the moon itself on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another longish wait, exams have just started, and unfortunately studying takes priority over writing fanfiction, which means that the next chapter will probably also be another two week wait or so. (Tiering on the current WW SIF event while also playing Bandori doesn't make things go any faster either...)
> 
> Anyway, Maki and Maru have finally gotten together! There's still probably another 8-10 chapters of this story left, depending on how much I end up writing, with the next chapter fast forwarding time a little bit to their first date.
> 
> Hope you guys are still enjoying it.


	11. Chapter 11

_ Maki POV: _

“ _ I really hope I didn't get the time wrong,”  _ Maki thought to herself as she waited at the entrance to the Aquarium. It had been two weeks since her and Hanamaru had confessed to each other, thanks in large part to some good-willed manipulation from You and Chika, and today was going to be their first date. Maki had obviously never been on a date before, so after discussing it with Rin and Hanayo, she made sure to arrive at the location a good 20 minutes before the time they agreed on. At least, she hoped so.

“Maki!” came a voice to her right, and Maki breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the short figure of Hanamaru running towards her. “I'm sorry for running a little late, were you waiting long?”

“Don't worry, I wasn't,” Maki lied, thinking that telling her the truth here would only serve to ruin Hanamaru’s mood. “Come on, let's head inside.”

“Sure thing, zura,” replied Hanamaru, taking Maki’s hand as they walked inside, immediately causing Maki’s face to blush. She really still wasn't used to the whole ‘girlfriend thing yet, but she couldn't say she didn't enjoy the feeling of Hanamaru’s hand on her own.

Their plan for the day was a relatively simple one, seeing as neither of them had any real experience about going on a date, which mostly just involved exploring the aquarium at their own pace. Hanamaru led the way for the most part, since she had actually been there before while apart of Aqours, though because of this, they often got sidetracked by the abundance of food stalls scattered around the location. Maki would warn any other person to watch their weight with the amount of food Hanamaru ate, but her metabolism was so fast that she never seemed to gain any weight whatsoever (or height for that matter).

“Seriously Hanamaru, some people would kill to be able to eat as much as you do without any negative consequences,” Maki commented while they sat on a chair together eating some ice cream.

“I don't think I eat that much,” she said, not suppressing Maki in the slightest, considering she had the same answer any time Maki had commented on it in the past. “Besides, ice cream doesn't actually fill you up at all.”

“I'm pretty sure that's not true in the slightest,” Maki started with a deadpan expression on her face.

“Maybe not, but it certainly feels that way, zura!”

“You feel that way for all food, period,” Maki muttered to herself, wondering just how Hanamaru continues to be so blissfully oblivious to her unusual eating patterns. Nevertheless, she still found that quality quite endearing, and couldn't stop herself from grinning as she watched Hanamaru gleefully consume her ice cream.

Maki was also quite glad that Hanamaru had actually been there before, as having her there explain more about some of the animals made the visit much  fun for Maki than if they had both gone in blind. She learned quite a few interesting facts from Hanamaru, like how some penguins can swim at over 15 km per hour, or that seals can sleep underwater. She also told a weird story about her, Yoshiko, a friend named Ruby and a coelacanth, which sorta just left Maki in a state of confusion for a few minutes. 

However, as the day wore on, Maki realised that that was the only time Hanamaru had even mentioned anyone from Aqours the entire day, which she found kind of weird considering her knowledge about the aquarium came from trips with them. She wondered if this was just a coincidence or not, so she decided to test the waters a bit as they passed by the penguin exhibit again.

“So Hanamaru, did you ever perform here as a part of Aqours?” asked Maki. She noticed Hanamaru perk up slightly in response to the question, but quickly changed her expression back to a more normal one

“Yeah, but it wasn't anything too special,” she responded, seemingly ending the topic of conversation as soon as it had begun. Concluding that there was possibly something Hanamaru was hiding from her, Maki decided to face it head on and ask her about it.

“There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?” Maki questioned. Hanamaru stopped walking responded.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, despite your main experience at this place coming from when you went here with Aqours, you've barely spoken a word about them, and just now you seemed to be trying to avoid the topic completely. Did something happen here between you guys that you don't want to talk about?” 

Hanamaru quickly waved down that idea. “No, of course not! Nothing like that ever happened, especially not at such a wonderful place like this, zura.”

If that really was the case, then Maki couldn't think of any other reason as to why she would be avoiding bringing them up then. “So, have you really just not thought to talk about them?”

“Not exactly,” Hanamaru said, looking down to avoid looking at Maki’s face. “I did want to talk about them, and the fun times we had here, but I didn't to leave you out.”

Maki stared at Hanamaru with a confused look on her face. “Huh?”

“Well, it’s our first real date, and I wanted to make sure that you were having as much fun as possible, zura. I figured that if I started talking about Aqours and the past to much, then I'd just ramble on for ages, and you'd start to get bored. I didn't want to ruin today in any way, so I made sure to bring them up as little as possible.” Hanamaru may have been looking away from Maki, but even still she could see just how embarrassed her girlfriend was at admitting that. Not able to think of anything to say in immediate response to that, Maki simply walked over and hugged Hanamaru. She froze up at the sudden contact, but just as quickly leaned into the hug, as the two enjoyed the other’s warmth.

“You know, for someone who reads as many books as you do, you can be quite the idiot sometimes,” Maki told Hanamaru as they broke the hug. “Spending the day alone with you was more than enough for me. Besides, I want to know more about you, and that includes your time with Aqours.” Maki paused for a second, before adding, “as long as they're slightly less weird than the coelacanth story.” 

Hanamaru giggled at that final comment, the tension in the air well and truly gone at this point. “I can't make any promises, especially with anything involving Yoshiko–chan, but I'll do my best, zura!” 

With that, the two of them continued their date, with Hanamaru going into quite some depth about their performance at the aquarium among other stories, while Maki listened intently, enjoying seeing her girlfriend laugh and smile so freely. It made her wish that she could be as openly joyous with her emotions as Hanamaru was, but she quickly shook off those feelings, wanting to enjoy the rest of her day to the fullest. 

The date came to a close once Maki had decided that Hanamaru had eaten enough hot dogs for one day. As they were walking out, Hanamaru spoke again after her complaints that she still had room for more food.

“I'm really sorry that I messed up the first half of our date,” she said, still obviously feeling somewhat guilty about before.

“It really wasn't a huge issue, I still enjoyed the first half of the date as well you know,” Maki responded, wanting Hanamaru to know that she really didn't do anything wrong.

“I know, but still, it just makes me kinda nervous about screwing things up for future dates.”

Maki laughed at Hanamaru’s comment, saying “if anybody's going to screw up a date, it's more likely to be me.”

“No way!” Hanamaru said immediately. “You're amazing, there's no way you could do anything to screw up a date, zura.”

“You're greatly overestimating my worth in the field of dating,” Maki hit back.

“I'm pretty sure I'm not,” replied Hanamaru.

The rest of their walk back to the bus station consisted of them playfully arguing about why the other was better than they were, laughing hand in hand the entire way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm REALLY sorry that it took me nearly a month to get this chapter out. I've had a real bad case of writers block, and I just lost the motivation to write for a while. It doesn't help that I'm terrible at writing fluff, which is really what this chapter was supposed to be, but I don't really know how well it turned out in the end. I mean, I don't think I'm that good at writing anything that isn't an internal monologue, but I do my best (it also doesn't help that I have no experience in going on dates either, having never had a girlfriend in my life).
> 
> Anyway, at least it's done now. I'm unfortunately still kinda in a writers block for the next chapter as well, so I can't give any real time frame as to when it will be done, but hopefully it's less than a month. 
> 
> Thank you to anyone who is still reading this story, and I'll try to do better in the future, both with the release times and the actual story itself.


	12. Chapter 12

_ Hanamaru POV: _

The last month had been one of the best Hanamaru has ever had. She was nervous at first being in a relationship with Maki, but, baring the slight hiccup at the aquarium, everything has gone brilliantly. Sure, Maki was a bit aloof at times, but that's just the way she is, and Hanamaru had shared more than enough tender moments with her to make up for that.

However, Maki seemed to be a little more distant than usual this week. Hanamaru initially just chalked it up to them being too busy preparing for the school festival, and dismissed it for a few days. While walking home together on Wednesday though, Maki looked distracted, only half paying attention to what Hanamaru was saying by nodding her head every now and then. Deciding that something was definitely up with her, Hanamaru wasted no further time in expressing her concern.

“Hey Maki, we you ok?” The sudden question seemed to finally get Maki out of her autopilot mode, facing Hanamaru with some confusion. 

“Oh, sorry, what were you saying?” she replied, confirming Hanamaru’s suspicions that Maki had not really been listening to a word she had said. 

“Nothing important.” Hanamaru said, narrowing her eyes at her girlfriend. “What is important though, is why you've been so distant this week.” It was quick, but she briefly saw a look of sadness in Maki’s eyes, before she shook her head and gave Hanamaru a quick smile.

“I've just been tired with preparing for the festival, no need to worry about me,” said Maki, and even though Hanamaru didn't believe her for a second, she figured that pressing her about it now, when she knew nothing about the reason, wouldn't do either of them any good. So, she left it at that, and made sure to look into it more tomorrow.

Unfortunately for Hanamaru, she didn’t get the chance to talk to Maki the next day, as she had come down with a fever. Whether this was in any way related to her aloof behaviour (well, more aloof than usual), Hanmauru couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that something was troubling Maki, and she wanted to be able to help her in dealing with it. So, during lunch break that day, after Riko dragged Yoshiko away in order to help her with her homework, Hanamaru decided to ask Hanayo and Rin if they had any idea of what was wrong with Maki.

“So, have you two noticed that Maki has been acting a little more distant that she normally is, zura?” Hanamaru questioned, and from the look the two of them gave to each other, it seemed as though they had. 

“Yeah, we assumed that she just had a rough weekend at first, but it looks like that's not it, nya,” Rin said, worry easily visible on her usually chipper face.

“I have no idea what’s wrong, and it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to tell me about it,” Hanamaru sighed. “Do you guys have any idea why she’s suddenly become like this?” A few moments of silence passed, before Hanayo spoke up.

“Has Maki made any mention of last year’s school festival?” 

“Not that I can remember, why?” asked Hanamaru, wondering what last year had to do with what’s going on now.

“Well, as I’m sure you know, Maki wasn’t exactly the most approachable person last year.” Hanamaru nodded her head, recalling Maki mentioning that Rin and Hanayo were her only real friends last year. “It was only thanks to Rin’s optimism and persistence that we became friends in the first place, as I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to talk to her by myself.”

“Aww, you’re being humble Kayo–chin, I’m sure you could have made friends with her without me!” Rin added, hugging a now blushing Hanayo in the process.

“A-anyway,” Hanayo continued, lightly pushing Rin off her waist, “while most people in the class avoided Maki out of nervousness, there were a few who didn’t like Maki’s seemingly cold attitude. It was mostly just whispers and quiet insults at the beginning, but it got much worse during the festival preparations. She was put in the same group as them, and since we were put in a different group, she was all alone with them. They made her do almost all the work, and sometimes purposely ruined parts of what they were doing, and ordering Maki to fix it. Rin and I tried to talk to the teacher about it, but they had good grades and made sure to act like the perfect students when she was around, so she didn’t believe us at all. Eventually, all the bullying got to her, and she didn't even come to school on the day of the festival.” Hanayo took a breath and sighed, obviously if it was this hard for her to talk about, she couldn’t imagine how Maki could have.

“So, what happened after that, zura?”

“Well, apparently during the festival while Rin was in the bathroom, she heard the girls who bullied Maki walk in and start talking about how much fun it had been harassing her during the festival preparations. Rin then took out her phone, recorded their entire conversation, and then showed it to the teacher as evidence of what was going on.”

“You should have seen their faces when I walked out of the stall and played back what they had just said, it was hilarious!” exclaimed Rin, laughing out loud as she seemingly remembered the experience.

“Needless to say, that they were all expelled the next week, with teacher borrowing RIn’s phone for all the talks with the girl’s parents,” explained Hanayo. “Maki was still more quiet than usual for a few days, but eventually she returned back to normal.”

“So, are you saying that something like that is happening again now!?” Hanamaru said, standing up with the sudden worry that her girlfriend was bullied and she didn’t even notice it.

“Don’t worry Hanamaru–chan, I don’t think it’s like that this time,” Hanayo reassured her. “I think it’s more likely that since it’s the same time of year that it happened now, the bad memories of it are coming back to her, and she’s just a little down because of it.”

Sighing in relief, Hanamaru sat back down. “I hope you're right, I would feel terrible if something like that wa happening to her and I was just ignoring it.”

“I'm sure everything is going to be fine, nya. Just make sure that Maki comes to the festival this time, it would suck missing it twice in a row,” Rin stated, and Hanamaru gave a determined nod in reply.

“Don't worry guys, I'm gonna make sure Maki has the best festival she's ever had, zura!” Hanamaru exclaimed with confidence. The three of them went back to eating their lunch while discussing plans for the festival, in a much happier mood than when they started, something Hanamaru hopes she can continue with Maki at the festival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurray for this chapter not taking a month for me to get around to writing!
> 
> Also, I now know that there will be 6 more chapters left until this story is complete (well, more like 5.5 chapters, but more on that when I've actually written those chapters). Thank you once again to everyone reading, and look forward to the festival next chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

_ Hanamaru POV: _

It was the day of the festival, and Hanamaru had woken up extremely early. Not just because she was excited, but because she had a job to do. Maki hadn't shown up to school in the days leading up to the festival, so to make sure she didn't miss it for a second year in a row, Hanamaru took it upon herself to go get her personally. 

That is why she now found herself standing in front of Maki’s house, having just knocked on her huge front door. After waiting for about 30 seconds, the door opened to reveal the surprised redhead she had been waiting for, still in her pajamas.

“Hanamaru, what are you doing here it’s 7:00 AM,” Maki said somewhat groggily, obviously not planning to be woken up this early.

“I'm here to take you to the festival, cause I'm pretty sure you have no plans on going on your own accord,” replied Hanamaru, giving her girlfriend a friendly, yet determined look. Maki clearly didn't share her drive, and started slowly backing back into her house.

“I would love to Hanamaru, but I've been feeling kind of sick the past few days, so I don't think—”

“You and I both know that's not true, zura. Rin–chan and Hanayo–chan already told me what happened last year, and there's no way I'm letting you miss two festivals in a row just because of some stupid bullies!” Maki looked shocked that Hanamaru felt so passionate about her situation, and struggled to find a response. “Just so you know, if you don't come, I'm just going to spend the day here with you anyway, so it'll be a lot more fun to spend the day at a festival that only happens once a year than doing nothing here,” Hanamaru said, smiling with confidence that she had done enough to convince Maki to come.

“... fine, just give me some time to get changed,” Maki conceded, earring an excited “zura!” from Hanamaru as she went back inside to shower and put on her uniform. Before long, they were making their way to school, though Maki still looked somewhat unsure about her situation.

“Just to make sure, it was because of last year that you've been absent the last few days, and not because you were actually sick?” Hanamaru asked, wanting to make sure she hadn't been acting too rashly before.

“Yeah, I guess I hadn't done as good a job of repressing the bad memories as I thought I had, and the thought of going to school during the festival prep time, even knowing that those girls weren't going to be there, still frightened me a bit.” 

“Oh, that's good, zura,” Hanamaru said with relief, before realising what she had just said. “O-oh, I didn't mean that it was good that you were still suffering because of what those terrible girls did you you last year, I would never think something like that, it's just that I was worried that I was making assumptions about you and why you weren't coming to school, and since I was super worried about you, I wanted to do something to help you, and now I'm rambling like an idiot, aren't I?”

Maki could only laugh at Hanamaru’s embarrassment, something that Hanamaru was glad to hear again, even if it was coming at her own expense.

Once they made their way to the school gates, they found four familiar faces waiting for them, smiling at the sight of the redhead friend.

“Why are you all here so early as well?” Maki asked as the walked towards their friends.

“Well, Zuramaru was extremely confident that her mission to retrieve you from the depths of hell would be successful, so we all decided to put our faith in her and greet you here as well!” Yoshiko exclaimed in her full Yohane persona.

“What she means is, we missed you, and wanted to make sure we could all spend the day with each other,” Riko translated, causing Yoshiko to turn away in embarrassment. The rest of the group laughed at the fallen angel’s sudden meekness, as Rin and Hanayo came up and hugged Maki.

“Welcome back, nya!” Rin said, her grip a lot tighter than Hanayo’s, another product of her never ending enthusiasm.

“We really were worried about you,” added Hanayo, and Maki could do little more than smile and hug them back.

“I'm sorry for worrying you guys, I guess I’ve still got a bit to learn about being a good friend.” The three friends let go of each other, and the group made their way into the school. Even this early in the day, there were still quite a few people, either manning the stalls or just walking around and admiring the spectacle.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Hanamaru asked, and was answered by the rumbling stomach of her girlfriend. 

“This is what happens when you drag me out before I've had any breakfast,” Maki quickly said, cheeks reddening slightly, though she still had a slight smile on her face.

“That's settled then, onward to the food stalls!” Rin shouted, as she ran towards the nearest source of nutrients, followed closely by Hanamaru, and the rest a ways behind them, well aware of the two girl’s constant hunger. 

After about half an hour, Hanayo and Maki had managed to separate their girlfriends from the multiple food stalls that they had visited, and in that time, the festival had gotten into the full swing of things. 

Yoshiko had immediately been drawn to a supernatural studies stall that another class had done, and watched both in awe and confusion as she spent twenty minutes straight conversing with another chuunibyou about the imminent coming of the demon lord, the other girls’ special lighting powers, and arguing over whether red or grey was the coolest colour. It was at that point that RIko decided that it was time to move on, and had to literally drag Yoshiko away from her new rival, shouting about darkness and curses as they left.

As they moved towards the centre of the festival, Hanamaru noticed that Maki hadn’t really said much since they got her, and pulled her aside.

“Hey, are you ok, zura?” she asked, voice laced with concern. “If you’re still not ok, we can take a break if you want.” However, instead of agreeing like Hanamaru expected she would, she was instead  pulled into a tight embrace by her girlfriend.”   


“You know, you really do have a talent for knowing how to drill straight into my heart.”

“Z-zura?” Hanamaru said, not quite sure where this sudden display of fondness was coming from.

“You’re right, I’m still not 100% over what happened last year,” Maki responded, arms still wrapped strongly around Hanamaru’s neck. “But just knowing that you care enough about me to be able to see that makes me far less worried than I was before. Thank you Hanamaru.” With that, she released Hanamaru from her grip, but not before planting a quick kiss on her lips. It took about 5 seconds for Hanamaru’s mind to catch up to what had just taken place, letting out an embarrassed squeak before looking up at Maki, who had already turned around to make her way back to their friends.

“Come on, we’ll l-lose them if we don’t catch up soon!” exclaimed Maki, though judging by the stutter in her voice, she was just as nervous about what she had just done as Hanamaru was. Regaining her composure somewhat, Hanamaru rushed back to Maki’s side, intertwining her hand in hers, and gave her the brightest smile she could manage, one which Maki returned with equal enthusiasm.

That smile of Maki’s stayed for the rest of the festival, as they all had fun eating and playing the various games set up around the school. They even persuaded Maki to play a short song on the outdoor piano, earning a rapturous applause from those around who were watching. Despite her insistence that she would never perform in front of so many people again, Hanamaru knew that the slight grin she had afterwards said otherwise. All in all, the day was a huge success, and left all the girls extremely tired as they were walking home. Maki thanked them all once again, especially Hanamaru, and headed home looking as happy as Hanamaru had ever seen her. She was slightly disappointed that she didn’t get another kiss from her as she left, but only slightly.

Lying down on her bed, Hanamaru decided that today was one of the best days of her life, and closed her eyes as she prepared to go to sleep. Or at least she was, before her phone buzzed with a text. Picking it up, she was slightly surprised that the sender was Ruby Kurosawa, one of her best friends and fellow former member of Aqours who had moved away to Hokkaido at the end of last year. They made sure to text each other about once or twice a week to see how the other was doing, along with Yoshiko, but usually she only messaged her on the weekends, or at least at a much earlier time than it was now. Opening the message, Hanamaru quickly read through it, and her her heart almost stopped.

“ _ Hey Hanamaru, I know it’s a little late, but I wanted to let you know that Dia and I are coming to Numazu to visit in a couple of days, along with Leah and Sarah. Looking forward to seeing you and Yoshiko again!” _

Hanamaru dropped the phone, processing what she had just read. 

Ruby was coming to visit for the first time since last year, along with Saint Snow, and most importantly, her older sister Dia.

Dia, aka, the girl she had a crush on last year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down, we're getting there slowly but surely.
> 
> The plan for the final 5 chapters is for there to be 3 main chapters dedicated to this final arc of Hanamaru dealing with her past feelings for Dia, which will include a (relatively angsty) flashback, 1 sort of bonus chapter that isn't technically part of the main story, but that I think will be fun to write, and an epilogue. Hopefully since I more or less know what is going to happen for this final arc (baring the epilogue), as it was the first part of the story I came up with, it will be somewhat quicker to write, but I'm not going to make any promises.
> 
> Until then, I hope you enjoyed the chapter,


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first off, I'm really sorry for taking so long to update, there were a bunch of things that happened, including final exams and trying (and still failing) to find a part time job. Mostly though, I just kinda lost the motivation to write for a while. I knew more or less what I wanted to write, but I just couldn't bring myself to actually sit down and put those thoughts onto virtual paper. Once again, I'm really sorry for not doing anything during that time.
> 
> But I'm here now, and even better, I've actually written the entire story! Over the past week I just decided that I was going to finish this once and for all, and here we are. The last 4 chapters will all be uploaded at more or less the same time hopefully. To those of you who are wondering why it is only 4 and not 5, that's mostly because the bonus chapter that I had planned never really worked out the way I wanted it to, so I just decided not to write it in the end. It wasn't anything related to the story, just chapter 15 retold from the original perspective, rather than the one it switches to a couple of paragraphs in.
> 
> Anyway, I think that's enough rambling here, I hope you enjoy the ending of the story, and I'll have some more notes about what I plan to do next at the end of the final chapter.

_ Maki POV: _

Maki and the rest of her friends found themselves once again waiting in a restaurant, waiting for Hanamaru’s old friends to show up. They were at a slightly bigger table than when Chika and You came over, as there were four new people coming today rather than two; the Kurosawa siblings and the idol group Saint Snow. 

“When are they gonna get here, I’m bored, nya,” Rin sighed, leaning over onto Hanayo’s shoulder.

“You should be a little more patient Rin, I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” replied Maki.

“Weren’t you the one complaining about waiting last time?” Hanamaru teased, chuckling and Maki’s embarrassed reaction.

“I’ve learned the error in my ways,” Maki muttered under her breath, purposefully not looking in Hanamaru’s direction, which only made her girlfriend laugh even more.

“Hey guys, they’re here,” said Yoshiko, who had for some reason not fallen into her fallen angel persona even once today. Turning around, Maki saw the four figures walk towards their table. Maki turned around just in time to see a redheaded blur speed past her towards where Hanamaru and Yoshiko were, tackling them both with a hug.

“Hanamaru–chan, Yoshiko–chan!” she exclaimed, somewhat startling the other two at first, though they both soon returned the embrace.

“We missed you too, Ruby–chan,” Hanamaru said warmly.

“Yes my little demon, we have much to catch up on,” added Yoshiko, trying and failing to suppress a large smile.

Maki then turned back to look at the other three. The one with the extremely dark brown hair looked at the three friends with a small smile on her face, leading Maki to assume that this was Dia, Ruby’s older sister. The other two must have then been Saint Snow, aka, the Kazuno sisters. The taller one, Sarah, was holding hands with Dia, giggling at the displays of affection. The shorter one, Leah, was the only one not smiling, wearing a somewhat conflicted look on her face for some reason. Ruby seemed to notice this, as she released her grip on her friends slightly, waving her over.

“Come one Leah, don’t be shy,” Ruby said teasingly.

“What happened to you being the shy one?” Leah replied quickly, though she did end up reluctantly making her way towards the group hug, before quickly being engulfed by it. 

After about 30 seconds more of hugging, everyone finally sat down at the table (with Maki being somewhat squashed together between Dia and Riko) and began catching up and getting to know each other.

“So, how have you all been enjoying your time at Numazu High?” asked Dia.

“It’s been really nice so far,” Riko respond. “I can’t really speak too much for the rest of them since I’m the only third year here, but everyone's been really nice, and the teachers have been great as well.”

“That’s only because you're actually good at school Riri,” Yoshiko countered. “A lot of my teachers are way too mean to me.”

  
“Maybe they’d be nicer to you if you actually did your homework on time, zura,” Hanamaru added, promoting nods of the heads from Maki, Hanayo and Rin (even though she was just as bad as Yoshiko was when it came to homework).

“Well, Ruby and I have been getting great grades so far, so try not to fail the year,  _ Yohane–sama, _ ” Leah said teasingly with a smirk on her face. “We wouldn't want to leave you behind, now would we?”

“Hmph, you need not worry about the great Yohane, for no mortal test will constrain her to a lower year level than her precious little demons,” Yoshiko quickly responded, and the giggles from Hanamaru and Ruby indicated to Maki that this was a common back and forth between the two girls.

“Anyway, we didn’t come over to talk about academics, we came to have fun,” Sarah said, eagerly looking at Rin, Hanayo and Maki. “So, how’d you three meet Hanamaru, Yoshiko and Riko?” 

“Well, I was playing the piano in the school music room before the first day of school, when Hanamaru here decided to try, and fail, to spy on me,” Maki responded smugly, turning Hanamaru’s face red.

“I wasn’t spying on you, zura! I was just captivated by your playing that I couldn’t help but watch you,” Hanamaru hit back, sending her embarrassment right back to Maki.

“Oh, so it was love at first sight then?” asked Sarah, prompting both girls to put their heads down to hide away from the rest of the group. “Hey, don’t worry about it, there’s no need to be shy about love, right Dia?” Sarah then proceeded to wrap her arms around the girl in question, which was reciprocated quickly.

“Yes yes, though there’s a time and a place for displays of affection, right Sarah?” Dia said, though her acceptance of the hug told a different story.

Everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood, but something, or rather someone, was slightly bothering Maki. Yoshiko, baring the one comment to Leah, had been acting like Yoshiko for a change, rather than her fallen angel alter ego Yohane. She never thought that she would miss hearing her chuni side, but she guessed some things you just got used to, and thus their absence becomes far more noticeable. She also noticed that Yoshiko had been quickly glancing at Hanamaru every now and then with a somewhat worried expression on her face. Maki was curious about why this was happening, but she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere by probing, so she decided to wait until later before asking.

A couple of hours of chatting and eating later, they all decided that it was time to head home, or to their hotel in the case of the visiting Kurosawas and Kazunos. Rin and Hanayo left quickly to go to a family get together for the two of them, and Hanamaru apparently had some homework she needed to catch up on, which left Maki in the perfect space to ask Yoshiko about her odd behaviour. 

“Hey Yoshiko–chan, can I ask you something?” 

Yoshiko turned away from Riko to face Maki. “Sure, what is it?” 

“I’ve noticed you’ve been acting kind of weird today, and by weird I mean acting like a normal person. You barely ever talked in your Yohane persona, and kept looking at Hanamaru weirdly, is there something wrong?” Maki said. 

Yoshiko immediately looked at Riko, before turning back to Maki and asking, “Has Zuramaru ever mentioned Dia and Sarah before to you?”

“I mean, she’s mentioned Ruby fairly often because of how much time you three spent together last year, but not much of the other three,” Maki responded after thinking for a bit. “Should she have?”

“I thought so,” Yoshiko replied. “Come over to my house and I can explain what’s going on.”

“Yochan, do you really think that this is something you should do without telling Hanamaru–chan?” Riko quickly asked, looking worried.

“She’s her girlfriend Riri. I think out of everyone, she has the right to know.” 

Riko thought about it for a few seconds, before conceding with a sigh. “Fine, but I’m gonna come as well, just in case you get too carried away.”

“Fair enough,” said Yoshiko, and the trio made their way to her house, with Maki left wondering what exactly the two of them were going to tell her.

After a walk that was spent mostly in silence, the trio finally arrived at Yoshiko’s place, and went upstairs to her room. Once they entered and sat down together, Yoshiko wasted no time in getting to the point of the matter.

“Last year, Zuramaru had a crush on Dia,”. The words were said so quickly, that Maki barely had time to register them. The other two looked at her expectantly, waiting for her response.

“Ok… but that was last year, right?” Maki replied. “Surely her dating me means that she’s over it by now.”

“Normally yes, but Zuramaru’s crush didn’t go very well, which is why I was constantly watching her today,” Yoshiko said. “She seemed normal on the outside, but after knowing her for as long as I have, I could tell that she wasn’t completely comfortable around Dia and Sarah.”

Maki waited a few seconds for all this new information to sink in, before asking the foremost question on her mind. “So, what happened last year then?”

Yoshiko turned to look at Riko, who gave her a nod of her head, and started recalling the events of late last year.


	15. Chapter 15

_ Yohane POV: _

In the distant past, there existed a powerful group of women, imbued with the blessings of the gods. They performed their rituals throughout the land, engrossing the people and bringing much joy to those who heard them. Together, they were the legendary AQO—

“Yochan! Do you really think Maki is going to understand anything if you explain it like that?” Riko exclaimed, putting an end to Yoshiko’s grand storytelling. 

“But if I say it normally, it's just depressing to tell” complained Yoshiko, but Riko’s stern look suggested that there was no way out of this for Yoshiko. “Fine, I guess I’ll be what you mortals call ‘normal’ then.”

_ Yoshiko POV _

“Last year, Zuramaru had a crush on Dia for a decent portion of the school year, but never had the courage to actually ask her directly. I knew this because I accidently looked through her diary once, mistaking it for my book of spells, and then had to promise not to tell anyone.”

“Which you almost immediately failed to do when you told me,” Riko pointed out.

“Hey, I didn’t tell anyone else, did I?” Yoshiko quickly responded, before getting back to the story.

“Anyway, after our final performance, we all came together for one final practice session on the school roof, and Zuramaru decided that afterwards, she was going to ask Dia to stay afterwards and finally confess her feelings to her. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go according to her plan.”

_ Last Year: _

“Well, this is it guys, the final time we’ll all be together as Aqours,” Chika said, a sad, yet satisfied smile on her face as she addressed the group for the final time. “All I want to say, is that I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve spent with you all more than I ever thought was possible, and I hope that we can all continue to be just as close, even if Aqours is officially no more.” The rest of the group cheered their leader’s speech, with Chika grinning happily at the reception.

“Yeah, that goes double for you three,” You said, pointing at the graduating 3rd years. 

Dia and Kanan gave the group confident nods of their heads in reply to You’s statement, while Mari gave her usual “ _ SHINY!”  _ response to nobody's surprise, though Chika still got a chuckle out of it.

Yoshiko looked to the right of where she was sitting, watching Hanamaru go through some breathing techniques as she prepared herself for what she was going to do after their pseudo-practice was finished. Hanamaru turned to her blue haired, and Yoshiko gave a thumbs up in response, and the two girls shared a small smile between each other. 

The group of 9 happily chatted away with each other for a while longer, until Chika declared that it was time to go. However, Dia told them to all wait for a little while longer, as she and Ruby had something that they wanted to tell them.

“As you all obviously know, I’ll be graduating this year, and as such, will be attending University,” Dia began. “Thankfully, I was able to qualify for my first choice university.” A cheer rang out from the rest of the girls, though Dia’s face indicated there was still more to be said. “Unfortunately, the university is in Hakodate, so both Ruby and I will be moving there after this school year finishes.”  

This news instantly brought down the mood of the group, but they all somewhat expected this kind of thing, considering Dia’s grades pretty much allowed her to study anywhere in the country. Yoshiko looked over once again to Hanamaru to gauge her reaction to the news, but to her surprise, the smaller girl still had a determined look on her face, indicating that this news was not going to stop her. Unfortunately for her, Dia still wasn’t quite done with her announcements.

“Now, I know that’s not exactly the happiest of news to end the day on, so I’ve saved one more piece of information,” she said with a warm smile. “Ruby, would you like to do the honours?”   
  
“Dia and Sarah are going out!” Ruby shouted, not able to hold in her excitement one bit. The majority of Aqours shared her sentiment, instantly asking how long the two have been together (and how far they’ve gone thanks to Mari), but Yoshiko did not share their excitement. 

“I n-need to go to the bathroom, sorry zura,” Hanamaru quickly mumbled to nobody in particular before running through the door back into the school. 

“Wow, is Hanamaru ok?” You asked, with her and the rest looking somewhat worried about the brunette.

“I’m sure it’s just something she ate, you know how Zuramaru is with food,’ Yoshiko quickly said to avoid further discussion on the matter. “I’ll go down with her and make sure she’s ok, you all go on ahead without us.’ With that, Yoshiko walked down the stairs, and knowing that the bathroom was most likely not where Hanamaru ran off to, she went to the one place she was most likely to find her.

Opening the door to the library, it didn’t take long for her to spot Hanamaru, sitting in the corner with her hands on her knees.

“Zuramaru, are you holding up ok?” Yoshiko asked, though she pretty much knew the answer anyway. Hanamaru turned around, eyes red and tears flowing nonstop, and ran at Yoshiko, hugging her tight while continuing to cry her heart out. All Yoshiko could do was stand there and accept her best friend’s broken feelings, for however long it required.

_ Present Day: _

“After that, she just pretended like she was over it and was fine, but I could tell that she still had regrets about never telling Dia her feelings at the time and getting the closure she needed,” Yoshiko finished, leaving Maki to process all that she has said.

“So, you’re saying that Hanamaru still needs to get that closure?” Maki asked.

“Pretty much,” Yoshiko replied, which prompted Maki to stand up and head towards the door. “Hey, where are you going now?” 

“To get Hanamaru to confess to Dia of course,” Maki said matter of factly, and exited the room.

“Man, she really doesn’t mess around when it comes to her girlfriend, does she?” Yoshiko stated.

“Maybe you could learn a thing or two from her about assertiveness,” Riko chided. “Especially when it comes to asking your girlfriend on dates.’

“Hey, you know I find it hard to think of things that you’ll enjoy, what with our personalities being so different!”

“And you know  _ I _ always tell you that as long as it’s with you, I don’t mind what we do.” All Yoshiko could do was look away and blush at her girlfriend's sweet comment, while Riko enjoyed some laughter at Yoshiko’s expense.


	16. Chapter 16

_ Hanamaru POV: _

She knew Maki had noticed that she was acting off, and she knew she was being selfish by not telling Maki why, but that didn’t stop Hanamaru from leaving her girlfriend to get some time to think by herself. She loved Maki, that much she knew. But despite that, she still wasn’t completely over Dia, much as she was loathe to admit it. Basically, her mind was a jumbled mess, and she had no idea what to do about any of it. She was so caught up in her own mind, that she didn’t even hear the knocking on her door until a familiar voice began to accompany it. 

“I should probably be used to your zone outs by now if I’m being honest with myself,” Maki sighed after Hanamaru finally opened the door to let her girlfriend in.

“What are you doing here all of a sudden?” Hanamaru asked, having no clue as to what was going on.

“I’d like to say something more romantic like ‘do I need a reason to visit my girlfriend?’ but that isn’t the case today. I’m here to force you to face the feelings you’ve been hiding for nearly a year.” Hanamaru was shocked by Maki’s proclamation, especially since she knew there was only one thing she could be referring to.

“How did you find out about that?” 

“Yoshiko-chan told me about what happened between you and Dia last year,” Maki replied, before softening her face a little. “I’m not mad at you or anything. What you felt last year has nothing to do with me, so you don’t need to go into that overly-apologetic state that you get into sometimes.” 

Hanamaru sighed in relief, as she was indeed about to go into said state. “You still haven’t properly answered my question though, how are you going to make me face my feelings?”   
  
Maki gave her a look she hadn’t seen before, a mischievous smile. “It’s obvious isn’t it? I’m going to make you confess your past feelings to Dia.”

_ A couple of hours later: _

“I know that I said I was ready, but thinking about it again, I’m really not, zura,” Hanamaru said to Maki as the two of them waited at a nearby beach for Dia to arrive.

“Don’t chicken out now Hanamaru, we both know you need to do this for your own good,” Maki said as she held Hanamaru’s hand, which did manage to calm her nerves down somewhat. “Besides, it’s not like there’s any mystery as to what’s going to happen.”

“I guess you’re right,” Hanamaru admitted. “I just don’t know how she’s going to react, like, will she still want to be my friend after this?”

“Hanamaru, I feel you’re overthinking this,” Maki said reassuringly. “From the little I saw of her today, she doesn’t seem like the kind of person to do something as heartless as that, and I also don’t believe that you would have fallen for somebody who would do that in the first place.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment about my character or yours, zura?” Hanamaru asked.

“I’ll leave that up to your interpretation,” Maki said smugly, and the two of them shared a small chuckle.

“You two seem to be having a good time,” came a voice from behind them, and the two turned around to see that Dia had just arrived. “So, was there a specific reason you called me out here Hanamaru?”

“Umm, so you see…” Hanamaru mumbled, still not quite confident enough to bring out the words she needed to say.

“Hanamaru has something she’s been meaning to tell you,’ Maki said, letting go of Hanamaru’s hand and lightly pushed her towards Dia, whispering “you can do it” while she was still in earshot. Hearing her girlfriend’s vote of confidence gave Hanamaru just enough strength to put aside her fears and face Dia head on.

“Dia, last year I had a crush on you, but never had the courage to tell you after you told us that that you were going out with Sarah,” Hanamaru said, with as much confidence she could muster. “So, now that you know, I really hope we can still be friends and that you don’t think any worse of me for not being able to tell you until now, zura!” Hanamaru proceeded to bow to Dia, hoping that the gesture would make Dia more inclined to still be her friend afterwards. Surprisingly though, Dia just started to giggle.

“I really was wondering when you’d be able to tell me,” Dia said through her laughs.

“Wait, you knew!?” Hanamaru exclaimed.

“Not 100%, but I had my suspicions. Remember, I’m not exactly dumb, now am I?” replied Dia. “I had noticed that you seemed to be avoiding me somewhat for much of the later half of the year, and would often be more nervous when you spoke to me than at the start of the year. Once I coupled that with your sudden exit, I figured the only reasonable explanation was that you had a crush on me.” After finishing her explanation, Dia did something even more unexpected. She walked up to Hanamaru and embraced her in a hug. “I’m really sorry for not noticing sooner, or telling you I knew, but I thought that this was something you needed to overcome yourself. I should really be the one asking if you’ll still be my friend.”

All Hanamaru could do in response was smile and say “thank you Dia.”

“Now, we should probably let go of each other, or else Maki may start to get jealous over there,” Dia said jokingly as she and Hanamaru ended their embrace.

“N-no I wouldn’t!” Maki exclaimed, but her expression told a different story, and the other two girls couldn’t help but laugh. Hanamaru was really happy that everything had worked out for the best, and soon afterwards Dia left to head back to her hotel, leaving just her and Maki at the beach.

“Thank you Maki, for pushing me to do something I wasn’t able to do by myself,” Hanamaru said softly, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

“I didn’t really do that much. Besides, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I wasn’t there to help you like you helped me with the festival?” replied Maki. The two of them sat on the beach together watching the sunset. As they sat, Hanamaru thought to herself not for the first time, and hopefully not the last, how grateful she was to have Maki as her girlfriend. 


	17. Epilogue

_ Maki POV: _

It was the first day of her final year at high school, and Maki found herself once again in the music room, playing the piano before school begun. She started this habit about halfway into her first year, and ever since then, there have been very few days where she hasn’t started her day in this room. However, unlike the beginning, she wasn’t alone now.

“I know I tell you this every time, but you really are amazing at playing the piano, zura!” Hanamaru said happily, clapping for Maki’s finished performance.

“I’d probably be better if I put even half the amount of time you spend reading into my practice,” Maki deflected, though both girls knew she was flattered by the complement. “Or maybe the time you spend eating might be a better analogy.”

“Hey, if I’m not getting fatter, then I don’t see any problem with enjoying food as much as I want,” exclaimed Hanamaru. Most days last year included this kind of banter between the two, and Maki really did enjoy being able to express herself in front of others much more than she did in her first year. The two’s conversation was interrupted by the slamming open of the door.

“Come only guys, schools gonna start soon, nya!” Rin yelled, practically jumping into the music room. 

“Yes, my little demons, come with me as we explore the depths of this hell,” Yoshiko added, hand on her face and already wearing her trademark black cape, despite it being against school uniform regulations.

“What are we going to do with those two?” Riko asked Hanayo, who simply shrugged with a smile as the two of them stood behind their respective girlfriends, waiting for the group to head to their classrooms.

“Well, what do you say Maki, should we head off?” Hanamaru asked.

“Whatever you say, my fair maiden,” Maki responded, packing up her sheet music, and walking out with the rest of the group. “Let's hope this year can be even better than the last one,” she said to herself, and when she looked around at the friends she had, Maki had no doubt that her wish would come true.

**The End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes Brighter Than a Book Could Ever Be. A bit of a short chapter to finish with, but it was really just there to give the story a nice point to end on. 
> 
> Writing this story has been both fun and stressful, but I'm still most certainly glad that I finally completed it, and I hope anyone reading it has at least somewhat enjoyed it as well.
> 
> As for my future writing fanfiction, I can tell you right now that I will not be writing something this long anytime soon. I don't really have any specific ideas for anything to write as of now, since most of my time has been spent trying to finish this, the most likely thing for me to write next would probably be a YohaRiko story, or something to do with Bandori (I'm not gonna list any potential ships here, as there are far too many). 
> 
> Anyway, for the last time, thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story until the end, as well as anyone just discovering it. I hope you've enjoyed it.

**Author's Note:**

> And there we have the end of the first chapter.
> 
> This is my first time writing a fan fiction of any sort, so any constructive criticism or any other comments would be much appreciated. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who read this, I hope that you enjoyed it.


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